Dark Energy: Dark Skies
by Melaradark
Summary: Over a thousand years since the events of the last Dark Energy story, a T'Soni working on a classified project that studies and monitors the Intergalactic Fold Network that connects the Milky Way to the rest of the Multiverse stumbles upon a secret: two missing years in the lives of Del Shepard and Liara T'soni. This is the record of those two missing years. Collaborative.
1. Chapter 1

((Author's Note: So several months ago I learned of a new video game coming out called No Man's Sky. It has since launched (in a cloud of hype and controversy, I know), however back before launch my wife Bladhaire had a brilliant idea: what if Del Shepard and Liara T'soni, at some point in the events of Dark Energy, happened to get stranded in the universe of No Man's Sky? The idea started out as just a fun talking point but soon grew into a plan...and that plan grew into what you see before you now.

I present the one and only crossover I ever intend to help write (I tend to avoid crossovers like the plague). I say 'help' write because my wife is a full partner in this tale and will be penning much of Liara's point of view, while I will be penning much of Del's.

Those of you who follow Del's facebook page might already be familiar with this as we started this there several weeks ago. Check out Del Shepard's facebook page, Liara Tianlan T'Soni's facebook page, or the Classified: Dark Skies facebook page if you haven't yet or are interested. Everything that was published there so far (save images) will be published here today. Any further publications will be made to both sites, although some of the longer ones will probably only be teaser published on the facebook page and then linked to the appropriate full chapter here for length reasons. Y'all know how I like to run on :D

Updates will be every Saturday; my other three ongoing stories will continue to update as often as I can manage the rest of the week- they're slow but they have not and will not stop.

For those not familiar with my work a few of the usual notes: I do not apologize for spoilers. There will be spoilers in this story. As No Man's Sky has only been out just over a week this may become an issue with those of you who have just started playing or who intend to play. This is the only spoiler flag I will give, so read at your own discretion if you want to avoid spoilers for NMS.

I also tend to write very left-of-canon a lot of the time. For those of you who *have* played NMS, any changes to canon in this story are intentional and will be done for the narrative's sake.

For now I will stop jawing and let you get into it. Thank you and happy reading!))

* * *

 **CLASSIFIED: DARK SKIES**

* * *

ATTENTION- EYES ONLY:

The following data, records, and information is highly classified. Any unauthorized party accessing these records, or any authorized party disseminating these records to unauthorized groups, entities, or individuals, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law under Intergalactic Union treatise A-8769-241.

**PROCEED NO FURTHER IF YOU ARE UNAUTHORIZED UNDER CODE 4713 OR POSSESS A CLEARANCE RANKING LESS THAN A-1-3**

* * *

PROJECT: DARK SKIES

Private Log 8133-2911-A

Date: {REDACTED}

Department of Fold Diagnostics, Research and Maintenance

Director Naes Y'rrum-T'soni

Log Entry 1

Proceeds:

I don't normally do private logs. I suppose it brings a sense of returning to childhood- it's too much like keeping a diary. Secrets and silly musings are kept in diaries and for those that know me well, secrets and silly musings have never been my cup of tea.

Most might find that funny, considering I work with some of the most classified information and technology in the known universe. I don't view that as secret keeping so much, however. To me, secrets are personal things, and classification is impersonal. It is a broad form of necessary security to the operations of the Project and to the function of any government or overseeing body.

The data I am going to impart here falls under this classification and is being shared with all necessary parties. However among that classified information I have discovered a secret- a deeply personal and fascinating secret that will only ever be known by a small handful outside of myself and my own superiors.

This secret, however, is not the small kind that can be safely contained and kept to myself, but I am unable to share it even with my own husband and children. I have never had an issue with that regarding classification, but never have I been faced with withholding something so intimate and so enormous from them before. Utilizing my personal log option for the first time in my career affords me the opportunity to…process? Perhaps, or to at least release the energy of this secret into another medium so that it feels less like I might burst with it.

We have always been aware of a wide variety of signals that traverse the Folds every time one in the system is connected to allow travel. These include background noise from the area which the Fold is linked too, stray transmissions from the same, and like phenomenon. However for the last several years we have detected a near-constant 'signal' that is present every time a Fold is connected or traversed. At first this was only dismissed as more background noise- merely an echo of interstellar or intergalactic radiation filtering through the open Folds.

Then, ten years ago, we were able to isolate this particular 'signal' well enough to determine that it was in fact artificial in origin and not a part of any natural phenomenon. Since that day, my team has worked tirelessly in an attempt to understand the signal and to trace its origins.

One year ago, we finally succeeded.

The signal appears to originate outside of our universe, entering the Fold network from another one of the uncounted trillions of multiverses that make up known reality. More, the signal appears to be a constant transmission of data- six yottabytes worth of information since we started to capture and download it from the streaming signal, and still there is more incoming. It will take many asari lifetimes before even the information we have discovered can be analyzed, but until three days ago we were unable to understand any of the data we had been capturing.

We finally seem to have cracked the transmission encryption. We are still trying to wrap our collective heads around what this data contains. It seems to be planet and atmosphere analysis, an analysis of physics and astronomics-biology, anatomy, geology, medicine, observational theories- the list is endless.

It is almost as if something or someone out there is trying to…

Well, there's no way else to say it. It is as if there is some species or entity out there attempting to catalogue the entire multiverse, and it is busily transmitting this catalogue through the Fold network via this signal to any race or species capable of discovering and translating it.

If that were not surreal enough, this morning I came across some astounding and personal information buried in all this data that-…well, that prompted me to begin this log, this…this venue for relieving the pressure of a secret that cannot be contained within my own mind or spirit.

Hidden inside those yottabytes of information we found lives, names- the records of individuals. Thousands of them; millions. And among those records I found two names instantly familiar to most anyone in the known universe- my _own_ great-grandparents, Admiral Delilah Shepard and her asari bondmate, Liara T'Soni.

And not just their names! Images, journal entries, records, observations- a wealth of data tied to them that describes something utterly impossible.

These records seem to chronicle _in detail_ a two year period in the lives of these two incredible people that by all accounts should be impossible. Two years of the inexplicable, the unfathomable, the astonishing. Two years that, until this morning, no one _even knew existed_.

We are still working through this data; there is much that needs to still be decrypted and analyzed. We are also attempting to find out the veracity of these accounts; third party verification that these things really did happen. Debriefing records from the old Alliance, perhaps; classified documents held by the Thessian government of the time; even just stories told to their children.

I will be recording our progress here, in this log. As access to this accounting is as secure as any other official documentation I will also be including copies of the journals, images, videos, logs and records that accompany this mystery.

We are left with a mountain of questions and I fear that seeking the answers will only lead to more of the same.

To start, how could two of the most pivotal and famous figures of the time go missing for two entire standard years without any record of the fact? How could they record two years' worth of information, discovery, and private journal entries whilst never- to our current knowledge- mentioning it again to a single other living soul in this universe? Is this an enormous hoax, or did something strange and astonishing truly happen here?

As a scientist, and as a T'soni, it is my honorable duty to find out.

Log entry 1 ends.

* * *

ATTENTION- EYES ONLY:

The following data, records, and information is highly classified. Any unauthorized party accessing these records, or any authorized party disseminating these records to unauthorized groups, entities, or individuals, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law under Intergalactic Union treatise A-8769-241.

**PROCEED NO FURTHER IF YOU ARE UNAUTHORIZED UNDER CODE 4713 OR POSSESS A CLEARANCE RANKING LESS THAN A-1-3**

* * *

PROJECT: DARK SKIES

Private Log 8133-2912-A

Date: {REDACTED}

Department of Fold Diagnostics, Research and Maintenance

Director Naes Y'rrum-T'soni

Log Entry 2

Proceeds:

I have spent most of the last few days attempting to establish the veracity of some of what we have found. Sifting through the data specifically tied to Shepard/T'Soni, we have discovered what appears to be a 'starting point', from which all further entries and recordings stem.

My next entry will contain this initial record and further entries will attempt to put subsequent records into their logical or most plausible sequence, so that we can sort this data into a rough timeline of events.

For now, my focus has been on this initial record. It appears to take place during a period of Shepard and T'soni's lives where their ship, the _Normandy_ , had been wrecked. The data in this record seems to have been captured via a third unknown party. It indicates Shepard and T'soni were at some point in time visiting the wreck of _Normandy,_ when they were lead into a series of odd circumstances resulting in this mysterious two year 'journey'.

My initial parameters were very clear: first, I had to establish that the _Normandy_ had at one point, under the command of Delilah Shepard, crashed. I had to verify that this crash took place on a world with an environment identical to that described in this recording. Then, I needed to know for certain that both Shepard and T'soni had visited the wreckage at a given point and that they were alone when they did so.

If I could solidify that these events did in fact occur as described, then I could be certain of several things:

1: That this is a true accounting of something that did occur to Del Shepard and Liara T'Soni, and not a hoax.

2: That this is a true accounting of _our_ Del Shepard and Liara T'soni, and not that of one of their Multiverse doppelgangers.

3: That therefore, the records that antecede this initial recording are more likely themselves to be true accountings if the veracity of the initial can be established in fact.

With that in mind, there was only one way for me to begin. I had to gain access to the archived historical records of the old Alliance. There are plenty of stories of Del Shepard and Liara T'Soni of course, as well as that of the Reaper War; but as those events are separated from the present day by nearly two millennia of time, one must take a pragmatic approach. Even well recorded facts get distorted over time, intermingled with legend, hearsay, and flat out embellishment. The truth of the time must be sifted from the chaff of mythology, and for that we had to go straight to the horse's mouth, as it were.

Fortunately, my clearance level made the retrieval of this information a difficult, but not daunting prospect. I was able to gain access to the sealed records, and with them I was able to root in undeniable fact the following:

1: That the original _Normandy_ had in fact crashed on the planet of Alchera after Shepard had defeated Saren Arterius, but before she had confronted the Collectors. It was never retrieved, and the site was later made into a memorial at the behest of the Volus government. It now lies nearly six hundred feet under ice, and remains undisturbed and largely forgotten- though it is still listed in current records as a monument and is offered the protections of such.

2: That Alchera was a freezing and hostile if habitable world, such as is described in the first record.

3: That the location in which the _Normandy_ wreckage rested was against a cliff wall, such as is described in the first record.

4: That two years after it crashed, Del Shepard- a Commander at the time and on suspension from the Alliance due to her work with Cerberus- did in fact visit the site.

5: That during the time of the visit, Liara T'soni was also present.

6: That the two of them did in fact visit the site alone initially, though others including Admiral Steven Hackett were nearby.

And so, we can conclude that the setting in which the first recording takes place is established in fact, as events occurred.

However, according to the archival documentation I found, Commander Shepard and Liara T'Soni remained at the wreckage for only a period of sixty three minutes before they returned to Hackett and those waiting to transport them to a temporary campsite. According to this new record buried in the encrypted alien signal-two entire solar years elapsed in this sixty-three minute window. Two years in which the most remarkable and nearly impossible events happened to the two bondmates.

If these records _are_ true- and they certainly seem to begin solidly rooted in fact- then incredibly advanced levels of technology involving controlled time dilation were also involved. It would have to be artificial; any natural phenomenon capable of such time discrepancy is incapable of being so precise.

Subsequently, neither Shepard nor T'Soni appear to have retained any memory of what occurred during that two year dilation. Either they were phenomenally good actresses- not outside the realm of possibility- or somehow their memories of said events were removed. I find the latter to be the most likely case, and it was probably done by the intellect behind the time dilation itself.

It may very well be the same intellect behind the Fold data and its encryptions.

There are too many questions now to be asked, let alone answered!

I will continue to work translating, unlocking, and sorting these records and this data into a chronological order and inputting them into this log. The first entry will be the initial record I spoke of above- involving Shepard and T'soni's visit to the _Normandy_ wreckage and what seems to have happened to them there.

Hopefully, as more and more of this information is laid to light we will have answers to these questions.

Log entry 2 ends.


	2. Chapter 2

ATTENTION- EYES ONLY:

The following data, records, and information is highly classified. Any unauthorized party accessing these records, or any authorized party disseminating these records to unauthorized groups, entities, or individuals, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law under Intergalactic Union treatise A-8769- 241.

**PROCEED NO FURTHER IF YOU ARE UNAUTHORIZED UNDER CODE 4713 OR POSSESS A CLEARANCE RANKING LESS THAN A-1- 3**

* * *

PROJECT: DARK SKIES

Project Log 2077-120516- 1-A

Date: {REDACTED}

Department of Fold Diagnostics, Research and Maintenance

Director Naes Y'rrum-T'soni

Project Entry 1

Proceeds:

{The following is the first entry involving Shepard and T'soni's visit to the _Normandy_ wreckage

on Alchera. Liara T'soni commences – Dir. Y'rrum-T'soni}

 _[Observation Mode Engaged]_

"The Goddess is Love," Liara emphasized. "Her voice is unique to whomever She speaks to, and takes on the embodiment of..."

Here, Liara blushed a little, her already cold-flushed cheeks darkening a bit more. "Well. The embodiment of whatever means Love to the person she speaks to. A sister, or a mother...or..."

She shook her head a little. "Anyway. I do not know," Liara admitted. "Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps it was nothing more than the lack of air, an auditory hallucination-"

Shepard gripped her hand harder, leaning over until her forehead rested against Liara's temple. "It doesn't matter," she murmured. "What matters is that, in whatever form...you were there with me at the end. You already know you're a Goddess in my eyes..."

Liara felt tears rush to her eyes and made no motion to brush them away, merely clinging to the woman who meant more to her than life...and let the pain go.

The two clung to one another for a time, the cold and the debris around them seemingly forgotten. Little was said – the occasional quiet word, a small shifting of position.

The weak sunlight had shifted enough for the shadow of the cliff to now fall over the pair, chilling the area further. Tiny ice crystals fell gently to the frozen deck as Shepard brushed her thumbs across Liara's cheeks. "Careful, you'll get frostbite."

 _[Temperature tolerances within acceptable parameters]_

 _[Pair bond evident, survival motivator established]_

Liara smiled weakly and snuggled further in to Shepard's embrace. "Not while I have you. And your coat."

Shepard laughed, jostling Liara with her shoulder while making a show of gathering the pea coat around her. "It is getting chilly though and I'm pretty sure my ass is starting to freeze to the deck. We'd best be getting back."

Casting a sad gaze around the remains of the helm, Liara nodded and stood slowly before offering a hand to Shepard. "Yes. I do not fancy explaining to Hackett why your ass is now part of Alchera."

 _[Begin Fold initialization. Phase one power up]_

Shepard opened her mouth to retort, her breath catching in her throat as something in Liara's face shifted. Her own stomach gave a slight lurch at the same time. Almost unconsciously Shepard's right hand drifted towards her hip then dropped reluctantly as she remembered she had come to the wreck without a sidearm.

Apart from the sounds of their own breathing and the occasional patter of ice shifting on the larger debris, there was nothing to be heard.

 _[Phase one power up complete. Commencing phase two]_

Liara gave a small gasp as a tiny biotic flare danced across her skin. Del's eyebrows furrowed together as her own skin crawled. "Li..."

Shrugging slightly, Liara hugged her coat more tightly around her. "That was not me, Shepard. I do not know...it was..."

"Like goosebumps?" Del supplied. "Never mind, I'll explain later." The asari turned her quizzical look towards the cliff nearby.

 _[Note – apparent sensitivity on behalf of both subjects to initialization harmonics]_

"I cannot explain how or why but whatever that was, I feel as though it came from over there." Liara nodded slightly toward what appeared to be a deep shadow at the base of the cliff a short distance away.

Shepard glanced from Liara to the cliff then over the remains of the CIC, beyond which waited their ride back to camp. Her cybernetic eyes were infuriatingly unreadable.

 _[Phase two power up complete. Data link established. Data transfer commencing]_

Shepard settled her eyes back on Liara and the asari could see by the set of her mouth that she had made up her mind. Del never was one to leave a mystery unexplored. For that matter, neither was Liara. Shepard extended a hand to Liara and the two left the meagre shelter of the helm and the shattered consoles behind them.

* * *

{Initial entry log continued: Del Shepard commences}

Like the rest of Alchera, the cliffs were coated with thousands of years' worth of ice. The afternoon sun was at such an angle that most of the _Normandy_ crash site was in the long stretching shadow of those cliffs. Because of the ice and the light, their surface seemed to somehow shift and swim with shapes and shadows as they approached it- almost as if they were walking toward an immense wall of water instead of a solid surface.

 _[Subjects proceeding in desired direction, pace matched and maintained]_

Parts of the engineering section of the ship had come to rest here. It looked as if they had collided with the ice with force enough to crack it in places, but already they were starting to disappear into the surface as Alchera began to heal itself. As they grew nearer, Shepard could see it was one of these cracks that Liara had spotted from the CIC.

That sudden rush of goosebumps hadn't repeated, but the afternoon had also not returned to normal. Shepard almost felt as if there was a static against her skin, so faint that feeling it was almost subconscious.

Liara obviously felt it too, and the pair lit up their omni-tools almost simultaneously.

"The wreck was thoroughly scanned," Shepard said, even as she started to scan the area herself. "No concerning eezo radiation- that was all spent in space."

"I am seeing no eezo radiation now, save normal background levels," Liara said in agreement. "No worrying traces of other dirty radiation either. Whatever it is that we are feeling, it is nothing we have encountered before."

 _[Lowering power to .32. Sensitivity parameters for subjects established]_

Shepard blinked, her dark eyebrows furrowing. "It stopped."

"Yes," Liara said. Shepard glanced at her, then once more back the way they'd come, before fixing her artificial eyes on the nearby crack in the cliff wall.

"Wai-"

"I will not be waiting here," Liara said calmly. Del gave her an affectionate, if exasperated look. Liara met it evenly.

"If you feel it is too dangerous to proceed we can notify Admiral Hackett and have a team sent for a thorough investigation," Liara told her. "If not, then we proceed- _together."_

Shepard couldn't help a faint little smirk as she looked back toward the crack. "Goddess save me from the stubbornness of asari."

"Now you are stealing my lines," Liara said lightly. Shepard's smirk grew a bit, and then she let out a billowing breath.

"Well, we're not getting any younger- or warmer. Just…be careful."

They began to walk again, nearing the fissure. Twenty feet away they stopped and scanned again, and Shepard glared in irritation at her omni-tool when it didn't show anything out of the ordinary. According to it, it was precisely what it looked like- a hole in the ice that was sixteen meters deep and five high and contained absolutely nothing but snow and air.

Ten feet away, and the same results. Though there was plenty of light outside the crack to see, the interior was shaded in blue gloom. They switched on their lights as Del stepped up to broken edge. She flashed her light inside.

"I can't see anything," she said. Liara's light joined hers and started to play around the interior walls. Within, the ice had not been pummeled by wind and weather and it appeared glossier, far more like the frozen water it was. It rippled and sparkled in their lights.

"It is a lovely cavern," Liara said, as they stepped within. "However you are correct- I see nothing of note, nothing to indicate the source of that…sensation."

 _[Subjects approaching transfer point. Mimesis holding]_

The very back of the crack, while visible, was still wreathed in shadow. As Del played her light over the ragged ceiling high above them, Liara turned her light toward the back, taking a couple of steps further on in an attempt to reveal it fully.

Her sudden cry was more one of surprise than alarm. She had put her booted foot down on what appeared to be solid ground, only to find the ground was an illusion. Del whipped around at her cry and lunged quickly toward her, trying to catch her as she fell forward.

"Li!"

The two women plunged through the non-existent ice and in the moment before unconsciousness fell Del saw not white, or blue, but an endless sheet of black so intense it defied description.

In the now empty crack, the wind brushed a soft whisper of snow over the apparently solid floor where the pair had been standing only a moment before.

 _[Transfer and separation complete. Experiment 397480100 begins]_


	3. Chapter 3

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

For a moment when Del opened her eyes her memory was gone. She had no concept of self, of identity; no memory of body or mind or environment. It was as if she had been stripped down to her basest reptilian brain- a creature of nothing more than stimulus and response, instinct and reflex.

Fortunately it lasted only a moment, before she could use that reflex to do much more than gasp and stare up at the blinding light above her. Memory and identity returned with almost a physical jolt and she squeezed her eyes shut. Tears caused by the bright light streamed across her temples and into her hair, before she blinked and sat up quickly.

"Liara?"

Several things registered at once. She was dressed in what felt like the light and flexible armor often favored by Alliance special forces infiltration teams or Asari covert operations. She was wearing a helmet, and an unfamiliar HUD was hovering unobtrusively in front of her eyes, providing life support readings, temperature readings, and logistical bearings. She was sitting in the dirt in what looked like an old volcanic caldera or small meteor crater, and the bright sky above had just the slightest hint of pale green. On the very edge of her perception she was vaguely aware of some kind of voice mechanically intoning power up sequences and suit vitals but couldn't focus on what it was saying.

"The fuck?"

She had been on Alchera, which had been freezing cold at -5.6 Celsius. According to her HUD display, wherever she was now was a comparatively cozy 9.5. She was also pretty sure Alchera hadn't been radioactive- at least not where they had been. Yet according to the same display, just outside the protective layer of her light suit were some pretty concerning rads ready to do damage. The air was also barely breathable.

The last thing she remembered was Liara suddenly stumbling forward and lunging to catch her. Then there had been a falling sensation, and one of such total darkness it almost seemed to be alive somehow.

Now she was here.

 _But where the fuck is_ here? _And where the hell is Liara?_

She looked around. The ridged walls of the crater or caldera around her were at least thirty or forty feet high in most places but toward her right they sloped a little to around fifteen. It would be difficult but hopefully not impossible to climb. There seemed to be some scattered debris littering the dark ashen dirt. As she turned around completely, she blinked.

A small and severely battered fighter sat in the dirt a dozen feet away. It looked vaguely on par with one of the Alliances old gen fighters- the ones that had been created at the start of the First Contact War, before they had really even understood what they were up against.

 _It looks like a goddamn child's toy,_ she thought.

While taking in her surroundings she'd also been inspecting herself, hunting for a weapon. She seemed to have a basic equipment pack on her back-lightweight but providing her oxygen and power systems for her suit. Flanking it were a pair of canisters that she assumed probably held oxygen recycler equipment-the design for everything was completely alien from anything she had seen before.

There was no weapons' pack. In a holster on her hip she felt what seemed to be the butt of a pistol. Drawing it out she examined it with confusion. It was clearly a projectile or energy weapon but it was also of no design she recognized. There were a myriad of small buttons and knobs along its side, and it seemed to have no place for a heat sink. There was, however, an obvious safety and trigger.

She slid it back in the holster and reached next for her omni-tool. Like the rest of what she had been wearing, it was gone.

It was also clear that Liara was nowhere in sight. Del seemed to be quite alone.

Ignoring the tiny fighter for the moment, she headed toward the nearby low edge of the crater. If she could get to the top she could get a proper look-around, get a real lay of the land. If Liara was somewhere nearby hopefully she'd be able to spot her.

Even the low edge of the crater, however, was almost completely vertical. Digging her gloved fingers into any handhold she could find, she dogged her way upward, but at the furthest she could go the edge remained a good eight inches out of reach.

Dropping back down she planted her hands on her hips and regarded the obstacle, trying to catch her breath. She'd have to check out that little fighter after all. It looked in rough shape, but if the eezo core was still online she might be able to power up its communications system, get a ping out to a comm buoy.

 _Hell, I'd even be happy if there was just a set of navs. At least then I'd know where the fuck I was._

As she turned toward the fighter, the same mechanical voice she had been only half aware of before returned.

 _{{Suggestion: jet pack power controls available}}_

Her first thought was 'it's the suit VI'. Her second thought was that it was suspicious a mere suit VI would have recognized what she was trying to do and have abstract programming sophisticated enough to not only realize she had given up her current course of action toward accomplishing her goal, but to lend a solution that would make said goal attainable.

Her third thought was 'jet pack?' and a surge of hope.

"VI, show me the jet pack power controls."

Instructions scrolled past on her HUD. Surprised at the speed that they went past she blinked-…

…and suddenly found herself thrust up into the air. For a brief moment she saw over the edge of the crater wall and looked out over a dismal gray landscape that barely seemed any more promising than her crater, before she was plummeting down again.

As her boots hit the dirt she rolled, absorbing the shock of impact and coming to rest half lying on her belly. Head down and eyes closed, she caught her breath and then forced herself to speak as clearly and calmly as she could.

"VI, can you verify the suit controls are based on a glance-and-blink system?"

 _{{That is affirmative}}_

"Of course it is," she mumbled. The HUD was designed so that merely by looking at the command for what you wanted and blinking, you enacted the command. They'd had to use some glance-and-blink HUD systems during basic, and Del had always hated them. "VI, set the blink system to triple-blink please?"

 _{{System parameters set}}_

Slowly she pushed herself back to her feet. At a triple blink she'd be less likely to set something off accidentally. She walked back over to the crater wall and looked upward with grim determination.

"Ok, VI. Let's try this again."

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

It was the sound that woke her. A persistent angry hissing that slowly filtered through her sluggish subconscious, nudging her to reluctant wakefulness. Her eyes fluttered open then squinted closed again as a shower of bright orange sparks flared in her peripheral vision. Turning her head away from the glare she slowly opened her eyes again.

Green.

The sky was green.

Alchera's sky was not green. Neither was the interior of the ice cave.

Liara closed her eyes again and allowed her other senses to awaken and take stock of the situation.

The angry hissing, likely related to the orange sparks, was masking a far softer sound. A slow, repetitive rasping noise. On a hunch Liara held her breath and the sound stopped, starting again when she resumed her breathing. Shifting slightly she heard something hard scrape against the ground.

Her arms and legs suddenly burst to life with a wave of pins and needles. When the intense prickling sensation finally abated Liara realized she was clad head to toe in some sort of hard suit. Taking a deep breath, she struggled to her feet.

 _{{ Connecting Atlas system, suit initialization_

 _Life support systems - activated_

 _Shield kinetic system - online_

 _Scanner damaged - repair required_

 _Aerial propulsion jet pack - online_

 _Multi-tool and mining laser attachment - operational_

 _User initialization sequence – complete }}_

The slightly tinny synthetic voice faded to quiet, leaving Liara alone with her breathing and the angry hissing.

The sky was still green.

A quiet snapping noise drew her attention to the flag planted nearby, the pennant with its alien device fluttering in the wind. An assortment of canisters and containers were scattered at its base. A short distance away sat two other items, one considerably larger than the other.

The smaller of the two was a rounded off cube with covers torn asunder and cables trailing on the red rock. A small light flashed on what appeared to be the front panel.

The larger item was a ship, and the source of both the angry hissing and bright orange sparks. Though clearly damaged it appeared largely intact.

"Nothing like the _Normandy_ ", Liara muttered to herself.

 _Normandy_.

Memories came flooding back and Liara gasped as though she had been punched in the gut.

"Del!"

Liara scanned the low plateau she was standing on. Ship, flag, containers, debris, some low growing plant life. No Del. The cockpit of the ship was clearly designed to accommodate a pilot and no one else. It was also empty.

The ground was hard rock, hard enough that the apparent crash of the ship had barely left a mark. There would be no footprints to follow had Del wandered off. But she wouldn't have. Del would never have left Liara unconscious and alone in a strange place. Never.

Liara sat down on one of the canisters near the flag and went over everything she could remember. They had been on Alchera, investigating the wreckage of the _Normandy_. Her biotics had briefly flared on their own and Del had also experienced some sort of sensation. They had found a crack in the ice and went inside to investigate.

Liara flinched involuntarily as she remembered stepping in to … nothing. An all-consuming blackness had enveloped her – and presumably Del also – then she was here. Where ever here was. Liara shifted and a metallic click drew her attention to her right hip.

A small gun-like device was attached there, coming away easily in her hand when she grasped the stock.

"Multi-tool and mining laser attachment..." Liara turned the device over in her hands before moving to place it back at her hip where it reattached neatly. Something to further investigate later.

The small flashing light on the rounded off cube beckoned incessantly. Moving to take a closer look, Liara realized it was a small square button. Never one to resist pressing unlabeled buttons, Liara gently depressed the glowing pink square.

A pulsating red ball materialized above the cube, spikes rhythmically pushing out only to disappear again. A wrenching sensation, both deeply unpleasant yet oddly comforting at the same time, briefly enveloped the startled asari, leaving her head swimming.

The word slipped unbidden from her lips. "Atlas."

A request had been made of her. A new impulse flooded Liara's mind – follow the path laid forth by Atlas. A counter impulse, Del's influence, asserted itself in reply – follow your own path.

Which path would best lead her back to Del? Which path would lead her home?

A HUD resolved in the air before Liara's face, two choice made clear – accept the Atlas' guidance or go it alone? She raised her hand, hesitated, and made her selection.


	4. Chapter 4

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

Streams of colorful language echoed about the small crater as Del got back up to her feet. That was the fourth time she'd crashed and it was starting to rankle on her. Jet packs were not unheard of tech in the Alliance- they were useful on low gravity worlds during infantry or survival maneuvers. The commands for this jet pack, though of the glance-and-blink variety, were pretty standard and straightforward.

She had all the information in front of her that she needed; the gravity of the planet (which felt to her as fairly comparable to Earth and which her readings bore out), the composition of the atmosphere which would factor in to resistance ratios, even the bloody temperature. She was not a mathematics genius but she knew enough to coordinate a sniper shot over distance taking those things into account, she knew enough to manually calculate a shuttle landing trajectory with broken navs, and she sure as hell knew enough to calculate a jet pack lift ratio and flight trajectory in Earth equivalent gravity, goddamn it!

So why were all her calculations coming up wrong? Why was she crashing short of her intended target every damned time instead of landing on the other side of the crater wall as she intended?

She wasn't even entirely sure why she was still trying. She'd already seen over the wall. Nothing but barren rocky moonscape as far as she could see, with no sight or sign of civilization, help, or so much as a mushroom. The smart thing to do would be to go back to that battered little ship and see what she could glean from it and the scattered debris.

Her stubborn, however, insisted on one more try. Dusting off her gloves she crouched to prepare for another leap when her VI suddenly spoke up again.

 _{{Suggestion: adjust gravity ratio by .92 percent.}}_

"What? Why?" she said, startled.

 _{{Judging by repeated impact trajectories you are miscalculating the gravity ratio by .92 percent. Recalculate.}}_

"I am not!" she said furiously, as if the VI had just accused her of being a terrorist. "I can see the gravity reading right there, it's just a partial fraction off Earth normal. I can feel it, goddamn it, and it feels like Earth normal! For my calculations to be .92 percent off Earth normal I should dragging my feet and barely able to stand up."

 _{{The reading in question is suit gravity.}}_ The VI said.

"It…what?"

 _{{The reading in question is suit gravity. Would you like me to display external gravity?}}_

"The fuck do you mean it's 'suit gravity?'" Del asked.

 _{{Your suit is calibrated to provide you with a gravity reaction comfortable to your physiological requirements, to allow you more ease of motion. External gravity sources vary. Would you like me to display external gravity?}}_

Del was so baffled a moment she said nothing, just tried to process what the tinny little voice had just told her. Suit gravity? Her suit had _its own gravity_?

"That's not possible!"

 _{{It is within my functioning parameters to display external gravity-}}_ The VI said.

"No, you little shit! I mean it is impossible for my suit to have its own gravity! That tech is…if it's even possible it's ten thousand years ahead of us! It defies the laws of physics!"

The VI didn't seem to know what to make of having its honesty questioned. After a brief pause as it tried to process it, it finally gave up and just repeated, _{{Would you like me to display external gravity?}}_

She grit her teeth. "Yes, fine. Display external gravity please."

A new line appeared on her display. As the VI had claimed, the data too insisted that the gravity outside her suit was .92 percent stronger than the gravity she was feeling. If that reading was accurate she should be crawling on her hands and knees, unable to shift herself enough to stand upright.

Quickly redoing her calculations she realized the discrepancy could, in fact, account for her crashing to the ground so quickly instead of soaring over the crater wall. However she just couldn't accept the idea that somehow gravity outside her suit was different than inside of it. Anti-grav and inertial dampeners were one thing; gravity _could_ be countered and manipulated of course, but it took a lot of equipment and power; more equipment than could have fit in the little pack on her shoulders and far more power than she could safely carry around, even shielded. Gravity countermeasures on an individual level, with low power, and wired into a hardsuit, were _impossible_.

To prove they were, she found a chunk of rock the size of her fist and picked it up. It came up as easily as it would have on Earth.

"See?" she said, waving it around as if she had proved some kind of irrefutable point to the stubborn suit VI.

 _{{Suit gravity extends automatically to objects held and manipulated directly by subject}}_

Del cussed a blue streak, then cocked her arm back and pitched the rock with all her strength. It left her hand at a beautiful arc then suddenly, less than a few inches from her fingers, the arc abruptly steepened downward. The rock thumped hard to the dirt far short from where such a throw should have landed it.

She stared at it in silence for a long moment.

 _{{Suggestion: adjust-}}_

"Adjust gravity ratio by .92, I got it," she said, and did so. This time, the jetpack lifted her exactly along the course she had wanted, clearing the crater wall and settling her down neatly on the other side.

* * *

Del spent a good hour walking around the rim of the crater, looking for any sign of life or help or…or _something_ other than bleary gray-black rock and dust. The suit VI helpfully suggested a zoom function on her HUD which, when activated, acted almost as binoculars and let her bring the horizon into sharp relief…but still there was nothing. It was even starker and drearier than the deserted plains of the Moon.

Dropping carefully back down into the crater she finally started to sift through the debris. Much of it was broken and scattered and unidentifiable- heat twisted chunks of metal, shattered plastic, looking much like the remains left from a small explosion. There were a few scorched metal boxes that seem to have survived- rifling through these found little beyond what looked like spare parts for the tiny fighter listing behind her.

For some reason there was a flag, bearing a design she had never before seen. It drifted listlessly around a metal post that had been stuck haphazardly in a pile of rock. Del didn't know who had put it there or what it was supposed to mean. For all she knew, _she_ had. There were certainly no signs of anyone else here, no footprints in the thin ashen silt save the ones she was leaving.

She found another piece of equipment lying on the ground in the shadow of the fighter's tail section that looked as if it had been ripped or torn from a much larger unit and placed there deliberately. It was more or less featureless save a pink square button on the top of it. She sat back on her heels, looking at it for a long moment.

This has all got to be some kind of joke, she thought.

 _{{Suggestion: Push the-}}_

"If you say 'push the button' I'm going to find out where you live in my suit and tear you out just so I can choke you," Del told it. Then, with a furious jab, she pushed the button.

The box open, and some kind of holographic projection of a pulsing red orb appeared. Del stumbled up to her feet, smacking the back of her helmet sharply on the tail of the fighter. Her first instinct was that this was one of the Reapers. It certainly seemed reminiscent of Sovereign and his crimson 'eye'. Her second was to expect the red orb to swell and form into the Illusive Man, smoking his damned cigarette and telling her how he had arranged for her to come to this weird little rock for some purpose or another of his own devising, while claiming it was for the good of humanity, or would somehow help in stopping the Collectors.

She would almost have been relieved had either one of those things happened. At least then she'd know what she was dealing with. Neither did. Instead the orb seemed to communicate without communicating, all her feelings and intuitions seeming to take on a life of their own and speak to her in a way that didn't seem possible.

It called itself Atlas, or some kind of representative of something called Atlas. And it was offering her a path.

"A path to what?" she asked out loud. "A path where? Home? Where's Liara T'Soni, do you know? Is she safe? Are you one of the Reapers?"

She felt only a sensation of affirmation to her first questions that was nonspecific enough to be infuriating. It could have been affirming that the path did indeed lead back home, or to Liara, or that Liara was in fact safe somewhere…or it could merely have been affirming that she should simply follow the path because it said she should. When she asked it if it was a Reaper however there was silence, and that silence felt ominous. It was either a Reaper and attempting to hide that information from her (was it unable to lie?), or possibly it had no idea what a Reaper was and could therefore give her no response.

 _Or maybe it's just fucking with me_ , she thought.

She did have a feeling that what it was offering was somehow voluntary; she was able to reject it if she so desired. However her current situation- stranded on this barren hellhole God only knew where in the galaxy with no food, water or communications- was entirely _in_ voluntary. This thing…whatever it was, and Reaper was currently at the top of her fucking list- if it _had_ put her here, then its offer was only the illusion of free will. She could accept what it offered if she chose, sure…but it was only the questionable and empty promise of a way out of a prison it had put her in to begin with, one in which she had little chance of escaping efficiently or any time soon on her own.

Speaking to it again verbally-though she felt she could have replied silently in the same manner it was 'speaking' to her- she said, "Fine, I'll take your help for now. I need to find Liara and I need to get home. You help me do that and we have a deal. But if you try and trick me or fuck me over, I swear to fuck I don't care who or what you are, I will find you and tear you the fuck to shreds, do you hear me? And if you've hurt Liara, so much as scuffed her pads, then you'd better pray _all_ I do is tear you to shreds, dong ma?"

The orb seemed indifferent to her threats. When it felt her affirmation it merely pulsed a second or two longer, then disappeared.

Shepard stared at the thing for a few moments longer, waiting for something to happen- the promised help, an explanation, downloaded nav charts, a communication line, a fucking explosion, _anything._ When nothing at all happened she kicked the damned thing as hard as she could and then turned and stalked toward the tiny cockpit of the little fighter.

"VI, you still there?" she asked as she hauled the canopy open.

 _{{Online}}_

"All right. We're going to fix up this little toy and try and get some goddamn communications open and while you're walking me through that, you and I are going to have a serious little chat about what the fuck is going on."

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

The repairs to her ship were completed surprisingly quickly. Liara's newly acquired hard suit – exo suit, she corrected herself – was maintained by a simple Virtual Intelligence. The interface was intuitive and helpful, though the programming behind it was nothing compared to EDI. Basic life support functions were entirely automated, leaving Liara only needing to replenish the power supply periodically. The VI was also able to interface with the ship and Liara's multi-tool.

By some stroke of fate the crash site was centrally located to several deposits of raw materials that had been required to get Liara's ship airborne again. The planet – or at least this part of it – was rocky and sparsely populated by groupings of unusual plants and strange minerals. Heat was an issue and Liara quickly found that searching caves for resources during the day was vital to preserve her shields.

Unfortunately some of the local wildlife was a bit possessive over its cool places.

~Ztchhhhhhh~

Something small and hard thudded in to the back of Liara's leg, causing her kinetic shield to falter slightly. Turning quickly, she saw a low shape wreathed in dust scuttling to a flanking position. It ducked behind a cone of mineral deposit and seemingly vanished.

~Ztchhhhhhh~

"Ow!"

Liara reached for her multi-tool. It was only equipped with a mining laser but it was all she had. The creature was small but fast and clearly did not appreciate her presence. A movement to her left caught the corner of her eye and she deftly spun and dropped in to a combat position. Entirely on instinct she flung out her left arm, intending to bat the creature away with low power biotic shockwave.

A faint sheen of blue enveloped the fist of her exo suit before lazily pulsing outwards at the speed of a volus wading through quicksand. The creature bumped in to the wave, faltering slightly as it was pushed back a few feet. The wave dissipated and the creature attacked anew. Liara barely had time to squeeze the trigger on her multi-tool before the animal struck again.

~Ztchhhhhhh~

Liara hastened to a more open area of the cave. The creature favoured an ambush tactic that was proving highly successful – her shields were already down to half power. If she was going to fight it off, she had to be able to see it coming. A small puff of dust to the right drew her attention.

The creature – part crab, part spider, all alien – came barreling towards her. The mining laser painted the interior of the cave a brilliant green as Liara fired in to the ground before the animal. It veered and scuttled off to her left before straightening and charging again.

This time she aimed at the creature. While not lethal, the mining laser did appear to cause the creature some discomfort at the very least. It hastily retreated, disappearing amongst the jumble of minerals further back in the cave.

Liara carefully retreated herself, leaving the cool of the cave and stepping out on to the sun-blasted plateau. Her HUD was still flashing a warning that her kinetic shield was low, though it appeared to be slowing recharging itself.

She picked her way back to the ship and settled in to the cockpit, the respite from the heat immediate and very much appreciated.

"What was that?"

The question, though uttered aloud, was intended as rhetorical.

 _{{ Species classification Atasailla Paicha Kallaphan }}_

Liara jumped slightly, not having not expected the VI to answer her.

A image of the creature, apparently automatically captured during the excitement, appeared on her HUD. Its name, gender, disposition and diet were clinically listed next to the picture. Directly beneath the image was 'Discovered by: T'Soni Liara /Ex. 397480100-Λ'

 _{{ Do you wish to change the species classification prior to upload? }}_

"Upload? To where? To whom? VI, what is going on? Where am I?"

The HUD remained in place a few moments, almost stubbornly Liara felt, before it slowly dissolved.

 _{{ You are on Kamab Trassomhe in the Zahalula Qaf'al system }}_

"Why? Who brought me here? How? And where is Del?"

Silence.

"VI?"

 _{{ You are here to explore._ _Do you wish to change the species classification prior to upload? }}_

"Upload to WHERE? VI, what can you tell me?"

 _{{ You are here to explore }}_

Silence.

Liara sat and thought. She had never heard of the planet or system name before. They certainly were not in the galaxy she had lived in her entire life. She was becoming increasingly sure she was in an entirely different galaxy at best. At worst... there were too many possibilities to even consider.

"I am here to explore."

 _{{ Correct }}_

"Explore what? This planet? The system?"

 _{{ Everything }}_

"And my discoveries will be uploaded somewhere?"

 _{{ Correct_ _._ _Monetary compensation will be provided for compliance }}_

"If I am to be paid, then may I assume there is somewhere I can spend this money?"

 _{{ Correct }}_

Perhaps she was not as alone as she believed. Clearly an intelligence of some description, and likely a highly advanced one even given what little Liara had seen so far, was responsible for her current situation. Compensation in return for exploration implied a high level of planning and organisation.

"VI, show me my discoveries to date."

The HUD appeared before her again, listing the minerals and plants Liara had come across in the area around her ship. Each had been scanned and catalogued the first time she had found a specimen. The angry little spider crab, her most recent finding, was at the top of the list. All the entries had names assigned already, and each entry was credited to her.

A glowing outline surrounded the top entry.

 _{{ Do you wish to change the species classification prior to upload? }}_

Liara briefly debated naming the spider crab after a few people she knew but decided against it.

"No, upload them as they are."

 _{{ Units received }}_

A small counter appeared in the top left corner of the HUD, numbers rapidly ticking over before settling at their new total. Units. Now that she had currency, Liara need to find a place to spend it.

"VI, are you able to provide flight instructions?"

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

"Then teach me how to fly. I have a very important person to find."


	5. Chapter 5

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

"Explore," Del said flatly. She was sitting on the dirt under the tail section of the 'toy' fighter. An open panel in front of her was no longer sparking thanks to a good hour's worth of work, and a few odds and ends were littered on the ground around her. Probably more than there should have been, considering the thing should be fixed now.

 _Always leftovers when you try and fix it yourself_ , she thought idly, but a few spare parts were the least of her concern.

 _{{ Correct }}_

Dropping the tool aside with disgust, she began to hammer the panel securely back into place.

"Who sent me here to 'explore?'" she asked.

The suit was silent. It had developed a habit of doing that when it couldn't understand her question or couldn't answer it honestly- she wasn't sure. She wondered if her threatening it had anything to do with its reluctance, but if it had that would make it an AI, not a VI.

 _Could it be? Who would plug a goddamn AI into a suit for crying out loud?_

 _Then again, the suit had its own damned gravity. Who was to say it couldn't have its own AI brain as well?_

The panel back in place she got to her feet. Overhead, the green sky had started to fade and washout. She'd be losing the light soon.

Planting her hands on her hips she spoke as calmly as she was able. "Look. I was in the middle of an extremely important mission. Human colonies are disappearing, being taken. Hundreds of thousands of my people, including a woman who was the only mother I ever knew. More than that, the entire galaxy is in danger from the Reapers. I don't have time to be fucking around because some wise-ass got it into their head that I need to catalogue some new species of radioactive mushroom. I'm not an explorer, I'm a soldier. Lives are depending on me. _I need to get back to my ship."_

 _{{ That has been accounted for }}_

"What part?"

 _{{ All }}_

"Look, VI. I don't give a shit about 'exploring' for…whoever or whatever the hell it was who sent me here. I have a job to do and I'm going to get off this ugly little rock and I'm going to find Liara and my crew, and after I take care of the Collectors and the Reapers, I'm going to hunt down your boss and plant my boot up their ass as well. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

 _{{ Mission parameters partially understood }}_

"Which part have I been vague on?" Shepard asked with a low, simmering calm.

 _{{ You misunderstand. You have partially understood your mission parameters. Get off this 'ugly little rock'. Find Liara T'soni. That is within acceptable mission parameters }}_

"But the part where I shove my boot up your boss's ass-"

 _{{ Unattainable. My 'boss' has no- }}_

"Oh don't worry," Del said, picking up the tool again. "If I need too, I will have an ass constructed for your boss just for the purpose."

She tossed the tool back into the small box she'd taken it from, then sighed. "Can you at least tell me if Liara is all right?"

 _{{ That information is unknown to me at this time }}_

Del grit her teeth. If Liara was hurt because some unknown intelligence out there had decided to have a fuck-around and use them like they were playthings…

Her first priority had to be to get off this rock and find some communications somewhere. That was step one. Then she could work on finding Liara, locating the _Normandy_ , and getting the hell back to hunting down the Collectors. It wasn't only Liara's life on the line, it was Nan's…and the longer they had her the more the chances of Del's finding her alive slipped through her fingers.

The little toy fighter should be working now. Its workings had looked both familiar and strange to Del, but she was no mechanic so that didn't faze her much. What _did_ give her pause was that the fighter itself seemed to have no eezo core- or for that matter, any power system that she recognized. That fact, combined with the oddly sophisticated suit VI and the fact that her suit had tech that shouldn't be possible, was starting to form unwanted suspicions in her subconscious. Suspicions she didn't want to even consider. As far away as she might be from Liara and home right this moment, if she even entertained those suspicions for a moment that distance might grow so far as to be insurmountable.

So, one thing at a time. The fighter was fixed, and there was no reason whatsoever to stay here.

Gathering whatever she thought might be useful from the crash site- which was woefully little-Del finally climbed into the cockpit of the fighter and began to power it up. As alien as the fighter's power structures had seemed, the controls were remarkably familiar. Ignition, weapons, attitude stabilizers- the damned thing was laid out pretty much exactly like the flight simulators they had practiced on back before her N7 days when she nearly became a fighter pilot. She'd ended up settling on heavy artillery, but it had been a tough choice.

She found the communications grid and quickly powered it up. A flood of static connected to her suit and then a moment later she was picking up all sorts of signals. She nearly whooped in relief, but a moment of filing through them caused the whoop to die in her throat. None of the voices or text lines coming through were familiar. There was no asari, no turian, no salarian- not even goddamn krogan. No Galactic. Every language, every voice, every word was utterly and completely alien.

Her stomach briefly felt as if she'd been dropped to the bottom of a well, before her jaw tightened again.

"VI, can you translate these voices?"

 _{{ Negative. Language parameters set to subject's only }}_

"You only speak Galactic?"

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

"That's fucking great."

Locating the ship's ladar she began a scan of the planet and system for artificial signals even as she started to lift off. With a remarkably soft purr, the little fighter hefted itself easily into the air at her direction. The gray black twists of rock and the smoking crater where she'd woken up began to retreat below her.

The scan blinked as it finished, and its results flashed up on one of her screens. Something that looked like a space station or a very large ship was showing up on the edge of the scan. Its design, like everything else, was utterly foreign…but it was a start. She'd be able to reach it easily enough- talking to it was going to be a different issue altogether.

As she started to adjust her course trajectory another chime sounded and information for the rock she'd just left appeared on the screen as well.

 _{{ Do you wish to give the scanned planet a designation? }}_ The VI asked.

"Are you serious? You want me to name the little shithole-"

 _{{ Name accepted and uploaded. Units received }}_

On the monitor over the image of the rock, the designation 'Little Shithole' suddenly appeared, and a nearby counter scrolled up several thousand numbers.

" _VI, that wasn't supposed to …you know what? Never mind. Little Shithole it is."_

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

Flying proved easier than Liara expected. She had a small amount of experience with shuttles that certainly helped and the VI interfaced with the ship to take care of the trickier aspects, such as landing. Without that assistance Liara was quite sure she would have been creating a new crash site each time she set down.

The planet she was on - Kamab Trassomhe – was largely rocky yet surprisingly rich in fauna. At least three different species of territorial spider crabs inhabited the cave systems. Various other quadrupedal and hexapodal mammalian species roamed the plateaus and shallow canyons.

The flora was a bit more sparse though quite varied. Thus far Liara had catalogued everything from small flowers to huge spongy fans that towered over her head. Mineral outcroppings far outnumbered the plants.

Everything that could be scanned and catalogued, barring the animals, had a use. Both her suit and ship had storage capabilities – technology that Liara was still trying to wrap her head around – and she quickly learned that keeping a moderate quantity of the most commonly used elements either on hand or in the hold of her ship could be almost lifesaving.

Liara had not yet explored enough of the planet to determine if it was inhabited in the traditional sense. The first advanced life form that she had come across was certainly not traditional, at least in her experience.

A low, quiet hum became apparent, causing Liara to reach for her multi-tool. The abandoned building in front of her, doors wrenched askew, had initially appeared utterly deserted. The hum grew slightly louder and she was able to narrow its source to behind the building.

Gripping the stock of her make-shift weapon tightly, she inched around the piping at one end of the building, trying desperately to remember everything Del had taught her about approaching a potentially hostile situation.

Peeking around the piping she saw the source of the noise was a small drone. It was lazily cruising along the small clearing at the back of the building slightly above Liara's standing height. As she watched it the drone dipped towards a common mineral deposit and, guessing by the blue light that played over the outcropping, scanned it.

Seemingly satisfied with the result the drone continued with its patrol, reached the end of the plateau and swung around to start a new corridor. It was compact and simple in design. The front and rear of the robot were quite similar, with the front containing a recessed glass 'eye' and the rear featuring some sort of propulsion system.

"VI, what is that?"

 _{{ It is a Sentinel }}_

That certainly had some interesting connotations, Liara mused.

"Is it hostile?"

 _{{ Planet - Kamab Trassomhe (Zahalula Qaf'al system)_

 _Rocky Planet_

 _Weather Scorched_

 _Sentinels Passive_

 _Flora Sparse_

 _Fauna Fair }}_

"Passive. Can it be provoked?"

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

"What actions would provoke it?"

 _{{ The sentinels protect against taking more than that which is required }}_

Nodding to herself Liara took a deep breath, stood and stepped out from behind the pipes. The sentinel was nearing her position, humming along in what could only be described as an slightly officious manner. Suddenly remembering that she had drawn her multi-tool, Liara quickly reattached the weapon to her hip. No need to provoke any unnecessary hostilities.

The sentinel draw even with her and continued on as though she weren't even there. Liara sighed in relief and relaxed. Despite the assurance of the VI that the sentinel would be passive she had still been unsure as to how it would react to her presence. Liara watched the sentinel slowly draw away from her as it continued its path before she turned and headed back to the front of the building.

The design of the building, though alien, was also completely familiar. It was modular, commonly used for outposts and temporary sites the galaxy over. Well, in her galaxy anyway, Liara reminded herself. This particular structure consisted of two pods with a connecting tube, presumably a walkway, between them. Both pods had doors facing the front of the plateau where Liara had landed and both doors were open.

The interior of the nearer pod was gloomy, brief flashes of the inside revealed only by flickering lights and the occasional shower of sparks. A swirling miasma hung near the door and the ramp leading up to it had clearly seen better days. Cautiously moving closer, Liara could see a strange … plant perhaps... had taken over the interior.

Her HUD didn't indicate any safety issues as Liara inched up the ramp to peer inside. Apart from the unusual plant infestation, the interior was deserted. Moving inside, Liara could see various canisters and containers strewn about the floor. A quick search yielded an isotope her equipment and ship used as a power source and what appeared to be an artefact of some sort.

A blinking red light drew her attention to a pedestal near the door. Half overgrown with the plant – that disturbingly pulsated and writhed to the rhythm of some unheard beat – it was powered up and appeared functional. As Liara neared, the top of the pedestal snapped open like an awakening eye.

 **|| User identified. Terminal now active. Unlocking data log for analysis ||**

Information scrolled up her HUD at a comfortable reading pace, entirely in galactic. Pushing aside her curiosity at that fact for the moment, Liara read.

 **|| It looked like a wound on the world. Crimson and ragged-edged, like something that once lived but was then torn asunder. I should have stayed away. Had I the senses to taste the air of this planet, I imagine it would have reeked with some kind of alien fetor, but nothing could stall my curiosity.**

 **Was it dead? Where I touched it, the surface was moist and yielding. It seemed to become motile then, crawling on a mat of slow cilia, moving from me. I should have left it alone. ||**

 _{{ Analyse data log? }}_

The voice of the VI cut in to Liara's reverie, causing her to jump and gasp. The presence of the plant coupled with the contents of the log had clearly put her on edge.

"Yes, analyse the log," Liara stammered her reply, heart racing. She imagined Del next to her, elbowing her jokingly in the ribs as she pointed to the log, specifically the part about touching … whatever it was.

"I don't know anyone who would do something like that, Sky Blue."

Now aching with a sense of loss and loneliness, Liara's heart slowed. Unconsciously her hand strayed over her side, the ghostly twinge of a nudge that didn't happen oddly comforting given the circumstances.

 _{{ New technology discovered_

 _Thermic Layer Theta }}_

A blueprint appeared on the HUD. Liara scanned the description and construction materials.

"A suit upgrade for extreme cold? One for heat protection would have been more appropriate but I imagine this will likely come in handy at some stage."

Dismissing the HUD she continued her search, moving to the second pod. A stream of black liquid that was cascading to the floor from a rent pipe in the ceiling was carefully avoided, as were further growths of the plant.

The relief of stepping back outside was palpable, despite the instant heat warning and temperature increase reported in the corner of the HUD.

 _{{ Log waypoint? }}_

A small marker appeared on the HUD, off to Liara's left. Turning, she spotted some equipment a short distance away. One appeared to be a communications mast, the other a flag with an again unknown crest. A few supply crates lay nearby.

Once closer, Liara could confirm it was indeed a communications mast. But for what? And to whom did it communicate?

"VI, what is a waypoint?"

 _{{ A marker of your journey. A record of where you have been }}_

Liara barely resisted rolling her eyes, a bad habit she had started to pick up from Del. Humans had some very amusing body language at times. Grinning slightly, she imagined the response such a reply may have elicited from the oft foul-mouthed soldier.

"I am not sure I know enough colourful language to properly imagine that."

The VI remained silent.

"Log the waypoint, VI."

 _{{ Rename and upload? }}_

'Bolishev Outpost' appeared on the HUD.

"Upload as it is VI."

 _{{ Units received }}_

Liara's shielding flashed a warning. The oppressive heat, thankfully mitigated by her suit, had worn the shields down to 50% of their charge. She returned to her ship and settled in the cockpit, wondering as to her course of action. Explore this planet further or head aimlessly in to the black of space to try and find Del?

Her stomach dropped briefly as the VI initiated the take-off at her command.

 _{{ Scan planet? }}_

"Yes, please. Can an auto-scan be enabled for each take-off?"

 _{{ Affirmative. Auto-scan enabled }}_

A number of markers appeared on the HUD. Selecting one at random, Liara piloted her small ship towards it.

"You can not know where you are going until you know where you are."

Further exploration it was.


	6. Chapter 6

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

It was there, sitting in space in the little cockpit of the fighter, that Del was forced to realize just how far away from home she was.

The system she was in seemed to consist of four planets- the newly named 'Little Shithole' appeared to actually be a moon. The system also seemed to be in the center of a green nebula, and she was reliant on her instruments to 'see' any real distance. The large artificial object that her scans had picked up was roughly the size of the _Destiny Ascension_ , though not similar in shape. She also seemed to be in the midst of an asteroid field.

All of those things were perhaps normal at first glance, but Del had lived and worked in space her entire adult life. She may not be a scientist but you couldn't spend the majority of your time flying around out in the void without knowing a few basics.

"VI, what the hell is going on?" she asked as she looked from her scan readings to the scene outside her cockpit, then back to the readings. "Where _am_ I?"

 _{{ You are in the Angmaar system. There is a navigational and galactic map available on your console }}_

Del found the map and pulled it up. Not dissimilar to the Galactic map interface in the _Normandy's_ CIC, a tiny holographic projection of the system she was in appeared hovering before her over the control panel. A bit of fiddling found she could zoom it in and out. She zoomed out.

And out.

And out.

The image flashed through millions of systems before she had finally zoomed far enough to see the galaxy as a whole.

It was not the Milky Way. Gone were the familiar spiral arms. Instead, what was displayed before her appeared to be a lenticular galaxy, stuck somewhere between elliptical and spiral.

She was as far from home as any human had ever before been in the history of the universe, and if what she was seeing on her instruments was correct…

No. That simply wasn't possible. Any of it. She was being fucked with.

"OK, out with it VI. Where am I?"

 _{{ You are looking at your navigational and galactic coordinates- }}_

"No, I mean where am I _really?_ I'm lying on some table drugged somewhere, aren't I? This is all a hallucination, or some kind of sick experiment? This isn't reality, it can't be."

 _{{ Nature of your conclusion not understood }}_

"C'mon, I may be a meathead but I'm not entirely stupid! I can _almost_ swallow being out of the Milky Way, but if I were anywhere in the goddamn universe the basic laws of physics would hold! Just looking around I can see that they're not holding here."

 _{{ Clarify }}_

"Oh I don't know. Pesky little things like gravity, persistence of motion, conservation of energy, quantum entanglement? I can almost- _almost_ \- buy that my suit has its own gravity but those planets out there are way too close together. They should be crashing into each other, tearing each other apart with tidal forces! I'm also sitting inside one of the densest asteroid belts I have ever seen in my life. Asteroids are millions of miles apart unless the event that caused them occurred very, very recently. Unless you're telling me an entire planet exploded within the last half hour and the debris just _stopped moving outward from that explosion,_ this entire asteroid belt is impossible."

She sat back a little and gestured with pure frustration at her fighter canopy. "Oh, _and space is fucking green!_ That's not a nebula out there. I'm not seeing any dust or particulate matter of any kind I'm familiar with that would cause what I'm seeing."

 _{{ Nature of your conclusion not understood }}_

"Oh, go fuck yourself. I'm either hallucinating or somehow I've been taken so far away from home I'm in another goddamn universe entirely where our known laws of physics don't apply. Occam's razor. I find it far easier to believe that I've been drugged and plugged into some goddamn artificial reality than someone out there yanked me to an entirely different universe for no other reason than it wants me to poke around and catalogue shit. So which is it?"

 _{{ Am unable to offer conclusion. Self-determination best }}_

She sighed in exasperation. "What?"

 _{{ Confirmation bias. }}_

"So you're not going to tell me which is right?"

 _{{ You would not believe either answer from such a source, and could dismiss it on the basis of your own personal confirmation bias. You must self- }}_

"I gotta figure it out for myself, I got it. Thank you."

 _{{ You are welcome }}_

"I was being sarcastic."

One thing she was sure of, if this was a hallucination her subconscious was an ass- something she had always been pretty sure of. If it were reality…well, that had implications she didn't even want to entertain, not the least of which was that it could be decades before she got home, if she ever did. Nan, the Collectors, the Reaper War, her friends and family-

Liara.

 _No. Liara was with me when this madness all started. If this is a dream she has to be nearby- maybe drugged and experiencing her own hallucination too. If this is reality she has to be here, somewhere. Maybe close. Either way I have to find her._

She aimed the fighter at the large artificial signature. She wasn't sure still if it was ship or space station but either way it and the voices on her radio were comforting. Structures and voices meant people. Alien people, perhaps, but people all the same. People meant someone to talk to, to get answers from. Maybe they'd know what happened to her. Maybe they were responsible. It was a bit of a coincidence that such a structure was hovering in the same system she'd woken up in. It might be that the VI's elusive and asshole boss was there.

As she got closer to the structure she realized it was indeed a space station, and that hers was far from the only traffic. Small ships of varying kinds and designs were going to and from a large docking bay set into the station's side with the weary drudge of commuters getting on and off a shuttle-bus. She tried several times to send a request for docking permission but never received an answer, nor was a communication sent to her. Instead, as she passed near to the docking bay her ship was suddenly seized with a blue light and the stick pulled out of her control. Sitting back, she could only watch as she was brought in through a barrier and down a tunnel to land at some sort of communal pad.

The dock was unlike any she'd ever before seen. Almost sterile, the floor and walls all seemed to be made of the same black antistatic material. Highly reflective, the ghosts of those walking around it seemed permanently attached to their feet. When she climbed out of her fighter and dropped to the ground, there was an odd almost electric 'thump' sound. She barely heard it; her focus had landed on someone standing not too far away near another small docked ship.

In height the creature was no bigger than a volus. He- if it was male- seemed to breathe the same kind of oxygen air mix as humans did. Her HUD was telling her the air in the station was perfectly suited to her and he didn't have a helmet on at all. Unfastening her own, she pulled it off for the first time since waking up and dropped it near her fighter.

The air was cool but not unpleasantly so. It smelled ever so faintly of ozone.

She didn't realize that all around, activity was ceasing and everyone was starting to turn and stare at her. They all seemed to be the same as the creature which had caught her sights- short, fairly squat in build and of a vaguely reptilian or amphibious heritage. Their faces resembled Earth frogs or turtles, with a blunt but clearly defined beak for a mouth.

Del strode toward the one who had the sad misfortune of merely being the first one her eyes landed on. He only saw her coming at the last moment, pausing in his rapid and unintelligible conversation with his companion only when he noticed that companion had stopped chatting back and was now looking over his shoulder at the oncoming human.

He let out such a high-pitched and frightened squawk when Del gripped his arm and pulled him around that she released him almost in the same action. He gaped at her, beak wide and throat working in surprised gulps. His eyes were huge as he stared at her.

"Ushisti!" He blurted, and a strange odor filled the air. It was reminiscent of sweet grass cuttings but with a subtler hint of burning rubber.

"I need to speak to whoever is in charge," Del said angrily. The creature stared at her, clicked his beak a few times, then said something she had no hope of understanding.

" _In charge!"_ she said furiously. The fact that she knew this poor creature did not deserve her anger was only making her madder. "Big boss? Commander? Leader?"

The creature gaped at her again, gulped a few more times, then abruptly turned and literally ran off down the deck. A vaguely foul stench, far more the burning rubber than the sweet grass now, was left in his wake. His boots made same vaguely electric thumps as he bolted as hers had done upon landing on the ground.

The other creature that he had been speaking too watched his companion go, then gulped himself and looked back at Del. Slowly he held his hands up and she realized he was making a gesture of surrender or supplication. Struggling her temper under control she said, "No. No, I'm not trying to frighten you, I'm sorry. I just need to speak to who is in charge. You can't understand a single goddamn word I'm saying, can you?"

Blowing out a breath of pure exasperation she looked around, scrubbing a hand over her hair. Everyone else was still staring at her. They looked as frightened as the first fellow had.

"Ushisti," the second fellow said, a soothing trill to his voice now. She looked back at him and he was reaching out a hand. She caught another strong whiff of that sweet grass and realized suddenly it was the creatures making those smells. She wondered if it was part of their communication or if they just did it when threatened or stressed, like a defense mechanism.

When she didn't immediately reach for his hand he made a beckoning gesture and trilled again. She supposed it was supposed to sound placating or soothing. He stepped back a pace or two, toward a door she could see in the far wall, and realized he was trying to get her to follow him.

"Ok," she said, giving him a nod (though he probably wouldn't know what that gesture meant either), and started to follow him. " _Ushisti_ …I fucking hope."

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

Liara had lost track of the number of waypoints she'd logged. A few dozen at least. All were simply communications masts standing out in the middle of nowhere. Each had been given a name by something or someone and seemingly abandoned. The containers and canisters to be found at each site usually held some useful items though, hinting at a deliberate purpose.

She had quickly settled in to a routine. Take off, observe the auto-scan, choose the closest waypoint, fly to it, land, avail herself of the contents of the containers, log the waypoint, take off...

Resources were thankfully plentiful so maintaining the power levels in her suit and ship were simple enough tasks. The number of units displayed in the upper left corner of her HUD slowly ticked up with each new discovery uploaded and Liara was starting to wonder if she would ever find anywhere to spend it.

The next waypoint was hovering on her HUD, slowly growing closer as Liara skimmed her ship over the rugged terrain. Flying was almost second nature now, the controls proving intuitive, and Liara was beginning to truly relax and enjoy the experience.

Enough so that she felt able to steal the occasional glance out either side of the cockpit. Though the cockpit was cramped, the canopy allowed for a decent field of view and this helped abate any sense of claustrophobia Liara may have felt.

"VI, what was that?"

Liara banked the ship to the right and began a slow spiral down.

 _{{ Specify 'that' }}_

Liara didn't answer. She couldn't. All she had seen was a brief flash in the corner of her eye. Something in the landscape that clearly wasn't a natural construction, yet also didn't match any of the unnatural constructions she'd found.

The ship touched down a short distance away from the point of interest. Liara sat in the cockpit and stared.

"That, VI."

 _{{ Closer proximity required }}_

There was no waypoint showing on the HUD for this particular object yet there it was.

"VI, why did the auto-scan not show this site?"

Silence.

Liara had pestered the VI enough already to know that silence indicated a question it would not or could not answer. Ensuring her shields and multi-tool were fully charged, Liara exited the ship. From the ground the site appeared much larger than Liara had surmised on her decent. The whole structure rested on a dark stone-like slab, straight of edge but irregular in shape.

Suspended in the middle – there was no other way to describe it – was a towering octahedron, standing effortlessly on its lower point with nothing supporting it and nothing between it and the base.

Placed near the corners of the slab, apparently at random, were three cylindrical objects similar in height to Liara. At opposite edges, in line with the centre points of the octahedron, were two obelisks. Near the base of the octahedron Liara could see a raised area of stone, possibly a dais of some sort.

 _{{ Initiate local scan? }}_

"Local scan?"

 _{{ Multi-tool function, short range. Independent of ship scan }}_

"And you are telling me about this now?"

Not for the first time did Liara wish that she had ignored her general aversion to weapons. The technology at her hip was far more than that, even though it had served her well in that particular capacity against the spider crabs.

 _{{ Information was not previously pertinent }}_

The sneaking suspicion that she was being toyed with flared in Liara's mind.

"Scan."

Several new markers appeared on the HUD, one for each of the cylindrical stones and one for the central octahedron.

"What is this place?"

 _{{ Object in question is a Monolith }}_

"What is the purpose of the monolith?"

 _{{ To absorb. To remember. To teach }}_

As she approached closer Liara could see that the cylindrical objects each had an identical cut-out down the side facing her and that the cut-outs were glowing faintly blue. A channel had been carved from the base upwards, continuing about two thirds of the way up before becoming a circle that dominated the top one third of the stone. Both channel and circle were recessed in to the surface.

"What are the three cylindrical markers?"

 _{{ Knowledge stones }}_

Her curiosity now thoroughly piqued, Liara neared the closest stone and examined it. Apart from the glow emanating from the recessed area, it seemed to be simply that – stone. Reaching out a gloved hand she cautiously laid her palm on the surface.

 **|| You have learned the gek word for oxide ||**

"Gek? What is gek?"

 _{{ Gek is asari. Gek is human }}_

"Gek is a species."

 _{{ Correct }}_

The message lingered a few moments longer on her HUD before slowly fading away.

 _{{ Gek dictionary initialised. Word added }}_

The channel and circle now blazed with light, the faint blue outline replaced with strong white, the circle now suffused with red.

"I suppose that is one way to learn a language."

Continuing to the other stones Liara added the gek words for 'common' and 'trade' to her dictionary. Each stone proffered only a single word and once triggered from their dormant state did not appear willing or able to reset.

In visiting each stone Liara had circled the octahedron and she now stood near where she had initially approached the site. The red circles from each stone stared at her like baleful eyes, watching, waiting. All that remained to investigate was the octahedron itself and the dais at its base.

Circular in shape, it was raised slightly from the stone slab that underpinned the entire site. In keeping with the knowledge stones, a design was channeled in to the surface, resembling some sort of stylised circuitry perhaps. The centre glowed a faint blue.

This time there was no need to make contact with the dais or octahedron. Once she was close enough, the monolith activated itself.

A strange energy seemed to envelop Liara, neither benevolent or malevolent. It felt as though the stone itself was speaking to her. Whispers in a strange language bypassed her ears and flitted directly across her mind. The brief sheen of biotics shimmered over her exo-suit and before being funneled away in to the dais.

A small snippet of knowledge somehow passed to her, a tiny slice of the history of the gek. It was without context and mentioned no time frame. Despite Liara's complete unfamiliarity with the gek, or anything else that was going on, she somehow knew it was the truth.

 **|| We are the masters of galaxies, the overlords of the cosmos. Each foe will submit with bended knee to the ALMIGHTY Gek Dominion.**

 **We are the FIRST SPAWN. Look upon our works and DESPAIR. ||**

The energy subsided and Liara fell to her knees, gasping. The words themselves, while strong of language, were just words. But accompanying them, really driving the message home, was an underlying power. Some form of subliminal messaging, she surmised.

Several messages cycled across her HUD and went unnoticed as she tried to collect herself and shake off the sense of oppression and anguish that had enveloped her.

 **|| You have learned the gek word for 'isotope' ||**

 **|| You have learned the Atlas word for 'journey' ||**

 _{{ New technology discovered_ _:_ _Coolant Network Sigma }}_

That snapped Liara from her reverie.

"Coolant?"

 _{{ Affirmative. Do you wish to create and install the mod? }}_

"Yes VI, go ahead."

The installation of the mod gave Liara a bit more time to try and process what had just happened before the heat would force her to return to the safety of her ship.

It had almost felt like a meld but far more clinical and most definitely more one sided, as though Liara were an empty vessel waiting to be filled with information. Shaking her head slightly to clear the last remnants of the contact from her mind she stood.

"Is this normal VI? How the monolith... interacted with me?"

There was a pause and Liara had almost given up on the VI answering.

 _{{ It absorbs. It remembers. It teaches }}_

"It may wish to investigate alternate methods."

Liara returned to her ship and settled back in to the cockpit. The red eyes of the knowledge stones glared at her unblinkingly. Shuddering slightly she launched and instructed the VI to fly towards the furthest waypoint. The quiet hum of the engine was soothing as she closed her eyes and thought over everything that had happened so far.

While she may not know what was going on, she was fairly certain she did not like it.


	7. Chapter 7

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

Del had never had such a headache in her life. Sitting in what appeared to be a rather nice if slightly Spartan office, she had watched as the creature that had drawn her here (a Gek that seemed to be named Thee-she'd been able to pick up that much) and the one he had lead her too (another one that seemed to be called 'Leonist') had spent the last hour and a half trying to talk to her.

Thee had brought her to Leonist in a state of excitement, punctuated by a rather intense but pleasant odor that reminded Del of cooking food. His relatively high-pitched and rapid yammering to Leonist as they walked in, however, was enough to distract her from the realization it'd been quite a while since she ate anything. Leonist, upon hearing Thee's words and staring at Del with an expression that- even on the face of an unfamiliar alien species- almost literally displayed credit signs, grew just as animated and excited.

That's when the headache started. It grew worse when they started to attempt communication. First, it was the rapid yammering. Once she'd made it clear she did not understand a single goddamn word of it, they started to resort to other means. Thee tried to write something down for her. Leonist was smart enough to realize of course that wasn't going to work and gave Thee a witheringly condescending look before deciding on another tack. That was when Del learned the scents were really coming from the Gek and did indeed seem to be part of their communication protocol.

Producing these scents seemed to rely, in part, on the Gek shoving handfuls of pills or leaves into their mouths, or swigging from tiny bottles. After being bathed for half an hour in the smells of everything from roasting meat to Sulphur gas, and watching them at least once dump a handful of what looked like live worms into their eager mouths, Del felt nauseous along with the pain in her head.

Realizing the scents weren't working, they devolved into the only method left to them- overacted pantomime.

That at least started getting them somewhere. They wanted to know who she was and where she came from- natural of course. Using the same pantomime she tried to explain it but she didn't think the point was coming across. Grabbing the pad from Thee that he'd tried writing on for her, she cleared the unintelligible symbols and did a series of crude sketches. The first she did of Earth, and showed it to them. This seemed unimpressive to them. Then she erased that and did a sketch of the milky way. It looked like a crude child's drawing of a pinwheel but they seemed to get the idea- this made them a bit more animated.

She tried to draw her ship but it was beyond her artistic skills, so instead she drew the weird thing that had appeared to her and seemed to off her a 'path' back at the crash site.

This got their attention and they seemed utterly delighted and awed by it. Del didn't know why but her temper was growing shorter by the moment. She was struggling to keep it contained. It was hardly their fault- from what she'd been able to glean- that she was in the situation she was in now. She didn't believe that they were responsible for bringing her here; that much at least seemed clear. She did, however, believe they knew something about what had, and their reaction to her sketch confirmed it.

Leonist pointed at her, then pantomimed walking and flying, and at one point shaded his eyes with his hands and looking around with over exaggerated motions, then pointed at the sketch. She took this to mean she needed to find that thing she had drawn.

She shook her head vehemently, which they'd picked up meant 'no', then cleared the drawing. Painstakingly she drew a silhouette of an asari head, then in the right corner of the image drew the 'pinwheel' Milky Way again. In the other corner, she drew a smaller version of Earth. She then showed the tripartite image to them. As they looked at it in confusion, Del repeated Leonist's pantomime of walking and flying and looking around, then pointed at the picture.

They were telling her she needed to look for the weird thing that had spoken to her. That wasn't going to happen. The only things she wanted to find were Liara and home.

Thee looked puzzled but Leonist apparently had gotten the idea. Unfortunately, he both looked and smelled grim. He displayed the sketch she'd drawn to her again and pointed at it. She nodded enthusiastically. He shook his head but held up a finger. He saved the picture, cleared it, then opened the one of the weird thing again. He pointed at it, nodded yes, then pulled up the image of Liara and home again and nodded yes.

Then he pulled up the weird thing yet again and shook his head no, then switched the images one more time to Liara and home, and shook his head no.

Del stared at him. Her confusion must have shone because he did it again. Weird thing, yes. Liara-home yes. Weird thing, no. Liara-home no.

Then it clicked.

"If I don't find this weird ass thing first, I don't find Liara and get home? Are you shitting me?"

They stared at her blankly.

 _{{ I believe that is what they are trying to say }}_ The VI suddenly spoke up, making the Gek jump in surprise a little.

"Really? Now?" Del hissed at it furiously. "You stay silent this whole time and _now_ is when you pipe up?"

Wisely, the VI said nothing more. Del slumped back in a nearby, awkwardly shaped chair and covered her face.

A few moments later, she felt a hesitant pat on her shoulder. Looking up, she blinked at Thee. He looked like he was trying to comfort a wild dog that might bite, and the strained smile (she thought it was a smile anyway) that he gave her was so grotesque but so genuine she gave an involuntary laugh.

"Fine," she said, as he drew his hand away. "Fine, if that's the way it's got to be, if I have to find this thing to find Liara and get back to where I need to be, then fine. Where is it?"

Thee exchanged a confused look with Leonist, and Del reached out, snatching the pad back and switching to the image of the diamond shaped thing again. She showed it to them, pointing at it firmly for emphasis. "This. Tell me how to get to _this._ "

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

The small creature looked at Liara, chittered excitedly and gestured towards to storage compartment on her suit. A string of text appeared on her HUD and it was in a language Liara had never seen before. Three of the words slowly highlighted in red and changed to galactic – 'trade', 'common' and 'oxide'.

Transferring what appeared to be a work tablet from one hand to the other, the small creature gestured expectantly towards the storage on Liara's suit again.

"A little help here VI?"

The VI was silent a moment and Liara's HUD flickered as several options appeared to trade with the excited life form seated before her.

 _{{ Do you wish to initiate trade? }}_

Liara reviewed the options presented on the HUD – trade a common oxide, an uncommon oxide, or a rare isotope. She glanced at the partially translated message again. 'Common' and 'oxide' were adjacent one another.

"Trade some common oxide VI."

The creature – the gek, Liara corrected herself – glanced at its work tablet and cooed happily. A moment later Liara was engulfed with a scent reminiscent of ocean air. It was oddly subtle yet somehow powerful enough to make her skin tingle as though she was actually standing on a beach.

The gek blinked at her, opened its beak-like mouth slightly and nodded several times. Liara nodded back and the gek, apparently satisfied that their transaction was now concluded, returned its attention to the tablet it held.

Still slightly bemused by the entire interaction, Liara slowly looked around the room. She had landed at this site only a few minutes ago and it was unlike anything she had seen so far. The construction of the buildings was consistent with the abandoned and plant infested site she had discovered, but the layout and purpose were clearly quite different.

The landing pad attached to the area she was currently in was the first thing she had noticed as she approached. Upon approving the VI to initiate the landing sequence her craft had been guided in to the pad, touching down with a lightness Liara had yet to master. A quiet hiss of hidden machinery and the pad with her craft atop it had rotated, stopping when the nose of the ship aligned with a closed door.

Behind the door had been a small lobby area, complete with seats and a couple of potted plants. Through an open archway was a larger room in which she now stood. To one side was Liara's new gek trading partner and to the other a door that presumably exited outside. The back wall had a spherical device embedded in it, the design similar to that of the Sentinels she had seen.

As she approached the wall a small button next to the device illuminated. Liara reached out and depressed the pink square, her HUD springing to life a moment later.

 **|| Welcome to the Galactic Trade Network**

 **terminal boot sequence...**

 **.login initiated**

 **/USER/adminT'Soni Liara/stat ||**

A short list scrolled past as Liara's eyes first widened in surprise then narrowed to a scowl. Her every move was being logged. How far she had travelled on foot. How many alien words she had learned. The most units she had accumulated. How many aliens she had met.

The list ended and she was presented with two options, to sell items from her inventories and to buy items from the Galactic Trade Network. Still fuming over the implications of the data being gathered about her Liara quickly sifted through her suit and ship inventories, selling a number of items she had no immediate use for plus the surplus of several materials she had gathered.

The unit counter in the top of her HUD ticked up.

Browsing the items available to buy turned up nothing useful. The were elements and materials, some she was familiar with and others she had seemingly yet to encounter. Judging by the prices, some of the items were significantly rarer than others. Conspicuous by their absence were any technology blueprints.

Stepping away from the trade terminal, Liara turned towards the door to the outside and strode towards it. The door crisply snapped open before her, closing again behind her as she stepped down off the ramp outside. Another building, this one topped with some sort of communications dish, was a short distance away to her left. To her right, the now ubiquitous waypoint mast. The building was something new so the mast could wait.

As Liara moved towards the building she heard an engine noise approaching from behind her. As she looked up a ship swept past the plateau and continued on in a wide arc before eventually disappearing over a nearby hill.

"It would appear that I am less alone than I presumed."

Encouraged slightly by this she continued on to the building. As the door snapped closed behind her and her eyes adjusted to the light she could see this interior was different again. A few plants were dotted around the room and a couple of alien pennants hung from the walls. A terminal and display screen huddled to the left side of the room, leaving the majority of the space empty.

Hoping that the building was a communications hub as it appeared, Liara activated the terminal. A sequence of numbers appeared on her HUD, with a blank space where a fourth number should be. Concentrating on the sequence, she jumped as an audio file started to play.

Frantic chittering was barely audible above the screams of tortured engines and rending metal. A loud explosion drowned out the other sounds briefly before more chittering – this time sounding resigned and regretful. Another explosion and the recording ended.

Three options now appeared on Liara's HUD, all numbers. Glancing again at the sequence she quickly deduced the progression and selected her answer. The display before her lit up, a map of the local area that quickly expanded to cover a vast swathe of land. A waypoint appeared in a canyon far to the east.

Liara had no idea how old the audio recording was. Had the message been received hours ago? Days? Weeks? How was the progression of time even measured here? Regardless, she felt a duty to investigate. Perhaps whomever had sent the message had survived. If not, Liara may be able to provide some closure to anyone searching for the missing ship.

Leaving the building Liara jogged to the waypoint and logged it, another ship arcing overhead as she did so. The pilots appeared loathe to land anywhere other than the currently occupied pad and so continued on.

Liara settled in to the cockpit and located the correct waypoint on her HUD. Launching from the pad she banked the ship and hit the boosters. The crash site was a fair distance away and she wished to arrive as soon as possible. The ship leapt forward smoothly as the landscape below turned to a blur. Gaining some altitude Liara gazed over the planet she had found herself stranded on.

Plateaus and canyons passed beneath her. The occasional glint of light off metal gave away a building or waypoint mast. Returning her gaze to the horizon Liara could see ships far in the distance, circling an unknown location on the ground. She had almost reached the waypoint now and slowed slightly to allow for landing.

She spotted the smoke first, rising from a ship that appeared largely intact. A small debris field betrayed the impact of the landing. Setting down nearby she approached the site with caution. The ship was larger than her own and was quite different in design. While her small ship could best be described as a fighter in appearance, this ship had more of a transport quality to it.

A quick check of the cockpit found the pilot had not survived the impact. He or she, if such distinctions even existed, had been a gek. Though the crash appeared at least somewhat recent the body was already heavily desiccated, likely due to the ambient heat on this planet. Liara carefully removed the body from the ship and interred it under a cairn, rather than leave the remains to be further ravaged by the elements. She hoped this was appropriate and that she had not inadvertently desecrated the remains or insulted the gek.

With the help of the VI Liara managed to activate an emergency beacon that she placed by the cairn and access the data banks of the ship. Most of the data was corrupted but she managed to extract a new technology blueprint – improved shielding for her suit.

The damage to the crashed vessel was surprisingly light considering how violent the descent had sounded on the recording. The engines and shielding would need repair but aside from that it was most definitely in serviceable condition. While there was nothing wrong with her current ship, the crashed ship had more advanced technology and a larger cargo hold.

"VI... would I be able to repair this ship?"

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

Liara looked to the sky. Dusk was falling and a myriad of stars were starting to dot the growing darkness above her. She was going to have to leave this planet eventually and it would be best to do so as prepared as possible for whatever was yet to come.

"Alright VI, what is required to make this vessel fly again?"

This was going to be a long night.


	8. Chapter 8

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Δ]_

Del was on a planet in a system she'd called 'Apostasy', and it was raining.

No, raining was too gentle a word for it. For the last two days what felt like a bloody goddamn hurricane had been raging outside. Only in conjunction with the 150mph winds and near constant roars of thunder, this hurricane had the added bonus of being made out of radioactive acid laced with blood squeezed directly from the Illusive Man's heart.

Ok, so that last bit might not be true, but two days with no food and no sleep in a cave tended to blur the lines a little bit.

Not that she was sure yet if anything about this fucked up situation was true or not. The longer it went on the more she found herself resigning to the idea that while it may or may not be reality- for now, it was her reality, and she had to deal with it or curl up and die. As Del had never been one to curl up and die, 'dealing with it' had become her new focus.

Her focus, not her goal. Her goals had not changed. Find Liara. Find a way home (or a way to talk to home). Kick the motherfucking ass of whomever or whatever had brought her here.

The planet hadn't seemed that bad when she'd landed on it, but less than an hour away from her ship, climbing through a rocky canyon, her AI (there was no longer any doubt in her mind it was an AI and not a VI, whatever it might pretend) had suddenly warned her that a storm was coming.

"What's a little rain?" she asked. She'd reached the bottom of the canyon now so slipping on rain slicked rocks was no concern, and she still had her jetpack to mitigate any falls she might take.

 _{{ Storm will produce radioactive and acidic toxicity far advanced of what your suit is currently designed to mitigate. Exposure to rain will lead to suit compromise in three point nine minutes. Death from radiation exposure will follow in nine hours. Death from acid exposure will precede death from radiation by eight hours, fifty seven minutes }}_

"Ok, that's not good," she said. "My ship is parked a good half mile up and another half mile west. How long until the storm hits?"

 _{{ Approximately three minutes }}_

" _Three minutes_?" she all but gaped. "A storm is coming that could melt me in acid like the fucking Wicked Witch of the West and you decide to warn me only three goddamn minutes before it hits?"

 _{{ Two minutes, thirty two seconds remaining }}_

"You are a _goddamn motherfucking_ -"

The rest of her rather vehement tirade at the suit AI had been lost in the first peals of thunder and Del's admirable, gazelle-like sprint through the canyon looking for shelter. She'd found it in the form of this cave, which went deep enough for safety…and in which she'd now been trapped for two days, listening to the storm and with no one to talk to but her AI. The first two hours she'd spent explaining to the AI just what specific kind of asshole it was- shape, smell, size, etc; and the next two describing in exquisite detail the direct lineage of assholes it had descended from and upon which kind of vile and pustulant creatures these assholes had grown.

The rest of the time she'd had nothing to do but think. As she'd done often the last several weeks, she thought of Liara- wondering if she was safe, where she was, and what was happening to her. She thought of her crew, and the situation back home…and hoped that while she was here playing Charles fucking Darwin for some unseen and unknown entity things there weren't falling apart. Nan, the colonists, the Reapers, the Collectors, Liara-all of it burned like agony in the center of her chest. The pain got worse when she thought about it, but it never went away even when she tried not to.

The fact she could do _nothing_ about it, that it had all been torn out of her hands and far out of her control, was what tormented her the worst.

And now, sitting in a cave with hell just outside the door, she was rendered even more helpless. She couldn't even keep looking for Liara.

In the length of time she'd been there, she'd learned a lot more about her situation, though none of it was terribly helpful. A lot of it she'd learned from the Gek- that timid little race of merchants and traders who could change their scents at will. She'd learned quite a bit of their language- enough to talk to them crudely but effectively.

They called her- and those like her- a Traveler. That was their term for anyone strange who had been brought to this galaxy by the Atlas. The Atlas was, apparently, that 'unseen entity' upon whose unseen corpse she intended to beat. Del and Liara (if Liara had truly been brought here as well), were not alone in their situation. The Atlas had apparently been bringing Travelers here to this place (galaxy? Universe?) for eons. They appeared without warning, confused and strange, and from where they all came the Gek couldn't tell her. Just 'somewhere else'. Each time the Gek encountered one they gave it the same advice- find the Atlas, find the Center. They couldn't tell her if she did that whether or not she'd go back home. All they could tell her was that those Travelers who had succeeded had never been heard from again.

That just filled Del with oodles upon oodles of good feelings.

Fuck the Center, whatever that meant. She did intend to find the Atlas if only so she could get some goddamn answers and put her hands around whatever passed for its neck. But her top priority was and had always been to find Liara.

She didn't know if that was possible, because she had no real idea if Liara was even _here_. Her gut insisted that she was, however, and Del trusted her gut more than she trusted anything at all in this new reality in which she'd found herself.

The storm was dying down into heavy rain. The AI spoke up almost tentatively to tell her that it should be safe for her to go back outside within half an hour. Del only grunted her response. To her surprise, after a long minute's pause, the AI spoke again.

 _{{ Tell me about your mate }}_

"Not even going to pretend to be a VI now?" she asked sullenly, her eyes on the dim light outside the cave entrance, a good hundred yards away.

 _{{ Please rephrase question }}_

"Smart ass," she said wearily.

 _{{ Tell me about your mate }}_

"Why do you care? You're part of what brought me here. Don't think I haven't figured that out yet. I'm stupid but I'm not _that_ fucking stupid. You clearly didn't care enough about her or what I was doing when you tore me here to be part of your fucking experiment, why do you care now?"

 _{{ Your assumption of 'caring' is inaccurate }}_

"Is it?"

 _{{ Emotion is not part of my parameters of function }}_

"Oh, fuck you!"

She stood up and walked closer to the entrance, leaning on the wall and watching the last of the rain fall from a safe distance. She didn't know why she did it- short of stripping out of the suit she could hardly walk away from the AI, and even without the storm the atmosphere on this planet was toxic.

 _{{ Tell me about your-}}_

"Her name is Liara, ok? If you're going to talk about her or ask about her, at least use her name."

A pause.

 _{{ Tell me about Liara }}_

Del watched the rain fall for a long moment, her dark eyes mirroring the pale and streaked light outside the cave entrance.

"She's smarter than me," she said at last. "She's stronger and tougher than she knows. Stronger than I am, in a lot of ways. A lot of people underestimate her because she's so unassuming. They just see sweet and naïve- and don't get me wrong, she is sweet, and she can be naïve about some things- but that's all they see, and that's a mistake. I fully expect to find your boss and stand on his throat, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the moment I walk in Liara's already there with him tied to a chair, his head spinning as he tries to figure out just what went wrong."

 _{{ Your pair-bond is strong }}_

"Is it?" Del asked sarcastically. The rain was almost gone now, just a few drizzles still falling. The wind had died away and it was looking almost sunny outside the cave. That's when Del saw motion.

She straightened immediately, pulling her multi-tool. It was generally used for scanning and gathering, but a few weeks ago Del had met a race called the Vy'keen: and one of the first things she'd learned from them was how to turn the multi-tool into an extremely effective weapon.

The damned thing even had a grenade launcher now. Del would still have much rather have had her Widow back, but in the meantime, this wasn't half bad. Some of the planets she landed on had rather nasty critters that would sooner chew on her helmet than look at her, and the weapon had come in useful.

Holding the tool carefully, Del edged closer to the cave entrance. At first all she could see were the shifting shadows on the rocks in the canyon and the rivulets of running acid-water dribbling down them. Years of such storms had carved gouges and channels in the rocks as the acid dissolved away the softer stone.

Carefully switching on her scanner, she gave a quick once over scan past the entrance of the cave.

A blip appeared. Something was definitely out there, and it was alive.

Switching back to weapon mode, she edged forward a little more. "All right. I know you're there…"

A few long moments passed, then a head with a wide pair of large eyes peeked around the corner of a boulder at her. She blinked at it and straightened a little. It blinked back, let out a nervous little 'eep', and disappeared from sight again.

Del sighed a faint laugh, lowering the tool. "All right. I'm not going to hurt you."

The little animal edged around the rock and looked at her. As it came into enough of the light to be clearly seen Del let out a surprised snort. "Well, I'll be goddamned."

Her snort seemed to have scared it. With another little eep of alarm, the beast bounded to one side and tried scrambling up the canyon wall. It was far too steep and it tumbled down again with a pained sound, limping a few steps before huddling into a ball.

Del did another quick scan to make sure there wasn't something else lurking anywhere nearby, then holstered the tool and hurried forward. The creature cringed away from her and tried to run but she caught it easily. It squirmed, chirping in fear for a moment before it stopped and just shivered.

It was obviously quite young, and had probably fallen into the canyon during the storm. At least one of its legs was just as obviously broken, and it had been bleeding at one point- though it wasn't now. It was about the size of a large house cat, a reptilid covered in thick, acid-resistant scales. With its long neck, thick plates along the ridge of its spine, narrow face and big eyes, it looked just like a…

"You're a goddamn dragon," Del said with a chuckle as the thing stopped squirming. "Ten trillion miles from home and I find me a goddamn _dragon_."

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Λ_ _]_

Liara sighed and nudged the smouldering pile of metal and electronics at her feet with a booted toe.

 _{{ That was unfortunate }}_

"Yes, it was."

The Sentinel had approached unnoticed and flown directly in to Liara's mining beam just as she started to gather fuel for her ship from a large crystal deposit. As advanced as they appeared, the drones were unable to distinguish the difference between hostile and incidental action towards them.

The asari sighed again, reloaded her boltcaster and attached the multi-tool back at her hip. It was now truly a multi-tool, courtesy of a weapons locker she had discovered several weeks prior. Her accumulation of units had diminished significantly that day but at least now she could properly defend herself.

Nudging the pile of debris again revealed a small, undamaged cannister. Liara extracted it, twisted the cannister open and gingerly removed an intact computer chip that she hastily stored in her suit. Unfortunate, but profitable.

"VI, where is the space station?"

 _{{ Calculating..._

 _The space station is currently 200,000u from our position }}_

Liara nodded to herself. That gave her a few more hours to explore and gather resources before the planet's rotation would bring them closer to the stations position. No point wasting fuel circumnavigating the planet when she could just wait and let the planet do all the work for her.

"Let me know when we are below the station."

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

A few minutes later the small field of crystals she had landed for was gone, now stored in her suit and ship inventory to be used as fuel or traded. Liara settled in to the cockpit and reviewed her holdings. She had enough basic resources to keep herself going for quite some time, plus a few speciality items she hoped to sell for a tidy profit.

Her transport smoothly lifted off, the turquoise grass flattening as the thrusters pushed the ship skywards. The small mammals that had been grazing nearby scattered in panic, their squeals and grunts lost in the rumble of the engines.

The view from the cockpit wasn't as expansive as her first ship had allowed, making spotting landmarks that weren't tagged with the ship scan a bit harder to see. Liara banked the ship towards a marker on the HUD and hit the boosters. Brightly coloured grass, trees and water scrolled beneath her as the time to arrival below the marker ticked down.

Being on a lush world made so much difference to her overall mood and mindset. It was pleasant being able to wander around and take in the sights without constantly having to worry about ice storms, toxic rain or oppressive heat. As well practised as Liara now was with keeping her suits counter measures charged and ensuring she had the elements necessary to do said charging, just being able to be was very liberating.

The arrival time counter dropped to seconds and Liara slowed the ship before making a textbook landing right next to the ruin. It was Korvax in design. Unsurprising, given this was a Korvax system. A quick suit scan as Liara walked towards the ramp revealed the usual knowledge stones.

 **|| Destination reached ||**

The marker disappeared from her HUD. Liara made a circuit of the ruins, tagging each stone.

 **|| You have learned the Korvax word for 'and' ||**

 **|| You have learned the Korvax word for 'help' ||**

 **|| You have learned the Korvax word for 'stars' ||**

The knowledge stones, somehow, appeared to prioritise which words were taught when. The most important words – common, uncommon, rare, oxide, silicate, isotope – had been added to Liara's dictionary quite early on. The fact she was now learning less important words indicated she had perhaps learned the majority of what the knowledge stones had to teach.

Red unblinking eyes now watched as Liara approached what she referred to as the heart of the ruins. This device produced the same interaction as the monoliths – it taught a snippet of the history from the race that had constructed it and a word from that race. The experience was one Liara still did not like, as it felt invasive and clinical.

 **|| You have learned the Korvax word for 'future' ||**

Liara leaned against the shattered stone building as she got her breath back. As useful as interacting with the monoliths and ruins was, the process was very disorienting. Her thoughts drifted towards Del, her one anchor in all of this.

"Oh Shepard, where are you?"

She turned her gaze towards the sky. Dusk was falling. One edge of the horizon blazed yellow as the sun retreated behind the mountains. Stars slowly appeared on the opposite horizon, winking at her from on high. Was Del near one of those stars? Was she gazing at the same stars, wondering where Liara was?

 _{{ Proximity reminder, space station will be above this position in five minutes }}_

Collecting herself, Liara descended the ruins and walked back to her ship. As beautiful as this planet was, the time had come to move on. Each planet that she left in her wake put her one planet closer to finding Del, and to going home. Loath as the scientist in Liara was to believe this, given that she had no evidence to that end, it was something that she clung to. As Del would say, she had a gut feeling.

The planet rapidly dwindled behind her as Liara made her ascent to the space station. After carefully navigating the small asteroid belt just beyond the gravity of the planet – and shooting a few for practise and the elements they contained – Liara reached open space and engaged the pulse drive. The stars turned to streaks of colour as her ship leapt forward, eagerly eating the distance between her and her destination.

Liara spent the time uploading the various discoveries she had made on the last planet. Given it was by far the most hospitable place she had visited thus far, she had named it Paradise. A little trite perhaps, but fitting.

The pulse drive automatically disengaged as the ship neared the station, leaving Liara to manually pilot her transport towards the docking bay entrance. Once close enough, the station took over control, guiding her ship in to the hanger.

Two other ships came in to view as the asari's transport moved down the approach to the docking bay. A sleek fighter shot past her, heading back to the expanse of space, the pilot having concluded their business aboard the station. The other ship was a design she hadn't seen before.

Her transport settled on its assigned pad with a barely discernible thud, the pad then turning to point her ship back towards to runway. Beside her pad sat the curious ship. It was small and almost insect-like in appearance, yet bristled with what appeared to be scientific equipment. Liara exited her cockpit and trotted to the adjacent pad, delighted to find the pilot present.

He, or she, was Korvax. Through a combination of Korvax words and hand signals Liara managed a basic conversation with the life form. The entity eagerly purchased several of the specialty items she had at well above market value. When it became apparent the cargo hold of the vessel held nothing of interest to Liara, the Korvax conveyed the ship itself was for sale.

It truly was a beautiful ship, if not a little unusual looking. The Korvax was clearly a scientist, having crammed as many instruments as possible in to the tiny vessel, unfortunately at the expense of some more advanced offensive and defensive capabilities.

While her transport was no fighter, Liara still possessed the ability to defend herself when necessary, as several would-be pirates had learned the hard way. As much as she would love to own and use such a ship, she had to bow to the practicalities of her situation. Politely declining the offer, she retreated back to her own ship as the Korvax pilot powered up the vessel and left the station.

With several items still to sell, Liara took the ramp from the hanger up to the lounge area. The design of the lounge differed slightly depending on who owned the space station, but the functionality was the same. A place to rest, relax and trade items on the Galactic Trade Network or with other pilots.

As Liara entered the lounge she could see a few other life forms were there already – a Korvax and two Gek. The Korvax was deeply immersed with its tablet, face lights dimming and brightening as it worked. The two Gek were chittering with one another, pointing towards their tablets and apparently comparing information.

One of the Gek glanced briefly at Liara as she entered, then returned to tapping at its tablet. The second Gek flat out stared at Liara, breaking its gaze occasionally to peer at something on its tablet. It shared whatever what on its tablet with the first Gek and both became highly animated. The room was suddenly enveloped with the scent of forest and the Gek fell silent.

The Korvax continued as though nothing of note was occurring. Liara stood near the door, unsure of what to make of the situation. Her prior appearances in space stations had created a small level of interest, but nothing quite like this.

One of the Gek gestured towards her, inviting her over, its tablet clutched almost reverentially to its chest. As she approached both the creatures looked her up and down, chittering quietly to one other. A few steps short of Liara arriving at the duo the Gek that had gestured turned the tablet for Liara to see and she faltered, her knees weakening.

Displayed on the tablet was a crude drawing, simplistic in its lines yet unmistakable.

The silhouette of an asari head.


	9. Chapter 9

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Δ]_

Del sat on the rocks in the bottom of the crevasse, doing her best to tend to the little dragon's wounds. She'd never know for certain, but it appeared the young creature had been the target of a larger predator, and in an attempt to escape had fallen down the steep cliff walls where it had broken its leg and ended up trapped.

Once it seemed to realize she wasn't intending to hurt it, it put aside its fear and concern and let its apparently natural curiosity take over. It kept mouthing elements of her suit as she tried to bind the leg in a way that would let the bone heal, and she kept having to discourage it. Curious or not, it had sharp teeth and the last thing she wanted was it to accidentally tear a lead or break a seal.

Finally satisfied with her job on its leg, she held it up and looked at it. "There you go, good as new. Or will be, in a few days. C'mon, let's get up out of this hole shall we?"

The dragon just squirmed a little before looking at her. She could see the curved reflection of her helmet in its overlarge eyes.

Carrying it and climbing these walls would be all but impossible, but fortunately for Del, she had a faster and easier way up. Holding tight to the beast to keep it from leaping out of her arms, she activated her jet pack, and in moments was sailing over the canyon wall and onto solid, level ground. She could see her ship, apparently unharmed, gleaming in the distance.

Then she caught sight of something else and laughed. Between her and the ship there was an entire herd of what were clearly her little dragon's older kin. The size of large dogs, they mingled uncertainly with heads held high watching her. The adults looked even more like dragons than the infant did, including fully developed fin ridges along their shoulders that might have been atrophied wings.

"Well what do you know," she said. "Front door service back to the family."

She walked just close enough that the infant saw the adults and started to squirm for release. Crouching down she said, "Now you go back to Mama and be careful. No more falling in holes, little one. I won't be around to save your scaly ass again."

She released him and he limp-trotted back toward the others, making happy eeping sounds. The adults drew close to him, sniffing and then circling around him. One or two made bluff-threats in her direction and she put up her hands, straightened, and eased back.

She headed toward her ship and carefully looked it over. It was designed to withstand the radiation and rigors of space, of course, but she couldn't be certain how it would handle two days of hurricane-force acid rain. Fortunately, it seemed none the worse for wear- and even slightly cleaner than she'd left it.

Sliding into the cockpit she locked up and began to power the engines. "How far to the space station?"

 _{{ Scan of this planet is only 37% complete- }}_

"Is it, that's a dreadful shame," she said, and made a falsely sympathetic cluck with her tongue. "I've been trapped in a cave for two days. I'm getting off this rock. If your boss doesn't like that he can come tell me himself. I've already told you, being the Atlas's online search-engine is not my priority. Finding Liara and getting my ass home is, and I'm two days behind now. Now, how far to the space station?"

 _{{ Space station is 30,000- }}_

The AI suddenly broke off, a moment before something flashed on Del's navigational board.

 _{{Warning- large scale weapon's fire detected. Hostile signatures in orbit. We are receiving a distress beacon.}}_

"What? This is a Vy'keen system. They don't send out distress beacons. If they're attacked they send out gleeful invitations for where the after-party is going to be held."

This was concerning. The Vy'keen were the second sapient species Del had encountered in this galaxy, after the Gek. In stark contrast to the little merchants, the Vy'keen were roughly the size and shape of brick walls, often punched each other as a way to say hello, and viewed being out of ammo along the same lines as falling impotent.

In fact, they reminded Del a lot of the krogan. Needless to say, Shepard got on with them like aces.

The Vy'keen controlled this system. When she'd landed on this rock there had been two entire fleets of Vy'keen ships patrolling the region, with enough firepower to wipe a small moon between them. Any force that could make them send out a distress call would be beyond concerning.

Shepard had two choices. Stay here on this armpit of a world or get up into the black, see what was going on, and throw herself into the fray if necessary.

It wasn't even a contest.

A moment later she was hitting the upper atmosphere, accelerating for the stars as the AI dumped information into her ear as it received it.

It seemed most of the fleet was on the far side of the system. They had patrols in this area, of course- a dozens of fighters and a couple of cruisers wielding enough fire power to punch a hole in the world. Without warning, an enemy cruiser also carrying dozens of fighters had jumped into the system, almost right on top of them.

Normally the Vy'keen would have been happy to see them: they lived for fighting, and it would have broken the tedium of patrol. Unfortunately for them, this cruiser belonged to a species that Del had not met yet, called the Korvax. From what she could get from her AI's quick report, the Korvax were much like the Geth- synthetic life forms travelling around in constructed bodies. Almost as soon as they'd popped in they'd broken into the computers on the cruisers and completely disabled the heavy ships, leaving them with only minimal life support.

That left only the fighters who now had Korvax fighters and their heavy cruiser bombardment to contend with.

The distress signal was meant for the rest of the Fleet- and doubtlessly they'd be heading this way immediately- but they could not FTL jump in the system itself without tearing half of it apart. It would take them nearly forty minutes on pulse to reach their attacked ships and by then it'd be over. The Korvax would have wiped out their fighters, left their cruisers to rot, and captured the station.

 _{{ Suggestion: reverse course and wait out the battle on Apostasy. }}_

"Oh, is that your suggestion?" Del asked innocently.

 _{{ ….you are smiling }}_

"Am I? You sound almost nervous, _AI._ "

With a few flips of her fingers she shut off the mining lasers on her ship and began powering up the main weapons. She touched her console to open communications and in crude Vy'keen she said "Weak puppies! I see I must come save your tails."

A growl rumbled over her headset. _[Interloper! Your arms are like pudding. Go away before you scratch your soft little skin.]_

She laughed "Tokkan, is that you? Well, no wonder the Korvax are attacking you- I was of no knowing this was nursery fleet!"

 _[Your Vy'keen is offensive to the ears, Kotka! It is 'I did not know', not 'I was of no knowing'. You whimper like a monkey in a tree. Go away before you get hurt.]_

"Aww, concerned for me? I'm touched, Tokkan."

 _{{We are approaching the battle perimeter }}_ The AI said. Del's HUD suddenly lit up with targeting sights focusing on the Korvax fighters that were little more than specks outside her canopy at this distance, mingled with the vicious Vy'keen fighters.

"Ok boys," Del said softly. "Let me show you how Earth does it."

Back before she became N7, Del had flirted with becoming a fighter pilot. She had really enjoyed it and had a knack, but ultimately she'd decided accepting the offer of N training was far more important. She'd never told anyone, not even Liara, but her pilot callsign had very nearly been 'Wrecking Ball'. It would have become official on receiving her wings but she'd ducked out of the program and turned her sights on N7 before that day came.

These alien fighters were not that different from the ones at home. If anything, they were a bit cruder. The feel was much the same and it took almost nothing at all to fall back into that headspace.

Darting into the thick of the fight, Del made an almost suicidal run toward three of the Korvax fighters. Apparently startled by this ship that seemed more interested in ramming them than shooting, the three fighters started to break off. Weapons flashed, and two dissolved into shrapnel as the third went spinning away, smoking from a glancing hit.

 _[Is that all?]_ Tokkan sounded thickly skeptical. _[Only two and one wounded? Go back to your cradle-nurse!]_

Del was close enough to the Vy'keen ships now that when he spoke, her HUD indicated his fighter. Without even pausing as she darted past, she sent a spray of shot over his nose, making him draw up suddenly. A chorus of happy hoots from the other Vy'keen fighters filled her ears and she grinned.

"Flinching, Tokkan?" she jibed. "Doesn't seem like the cradle-nurse need is mine."

 _['Like I need a cradle nurse', not 'the cradle-nurse need is mine'. Your grammar is atrocious and your voice sounds like a Gek choking on nip!]_

"I'm sorry, are you talking? All I'm hearing is an annoying baby-whine while I battle."

Del had first met Tokkan a few weeks ago at her prior system. The Vy'keen warrior was a good two feet taller and broader than she was and looked like he bit the heads off of Gek for his afternoon snacks. Upon their first meeting he'd gotten in her face and ridiculed her for being an 'Interloper', which was what the Vy'keen tended to call anyone who wasn't Vy'keen. She'd jabbed her multi-tool up under his chin, leaned even closer, and told him that his breath smelled like milk. She'd already learned by then that threats were a way of Vy'keen greeting and the more insulting the threat the more they liked you. Only infant Vy'keen drank milk, and nothing to a Vy'keen was more insulting than being labelled an infant.

The two had taken to each other immediately after that. Tokkan was the reason her multi-tool now doubled as an effective weapon and her ship had the capability of any Vy'keen fighter. Finding new and creative ways to insult one another had become their new hobby.

Addressing the fighters, Del half-watched the countdown on the corner of her HUD for when the rest of the Fleet would arrive. It was moving far too slowly. She was good in a fighter, but so were the Vy'keen, and when it came down to it she really was only one more ship in a battle where they were grossly outnumbered. So long as the Korvax had their cruiser and the Vy'keen cruisers were disabled, there was only one outcome to this battle and it wasn't with them winning.

Or even living.

They had to take the cruiser out if they wanted a chance of making it long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Problem was, fighters alone against a cruiser that had full shields and active cannons would never do the job.

 _What we need is a boarding party._

She quickly switched her comm off. "AI, we need a boarding party."

 _{{ Approaching and locking on to the Korvax cruiser in a fighter in order to board has a success ratio of 0.0001%.}}_

Del grinned grimly. "So you're saying there's a chance."

 _{{ What color would you like your coffin? }}_

"Oh, funny. AI, I don't recall saying I wanted to _lock on_ to the cruiser with my fighter, now did I?"

A long pause.

 _{{ Without locking on with your fighter, there is only one possible way to board }}_

"Is it doable?" Del asked.

 _{{ Question repeated: What color would you like your coffin? }}_

"People have tried to bury me before," Del said with a grim smirk. "Hasn't worked yet."

She reached out and switched her comm back on, her artificial eyes gleaming.

"Tokkan, how do you feel about taking a stroll?"

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex._

 _397480100-Λ]_

A temple. That is what it reminded her of. Perfectly ordered and utterly pristine. A place for each

ship and each ship in its place. Liara sat beneath the nose of her transport, propped up against the

landing strut. Ships came and went around her, some pilots glancing curiously her way, others

ignoring her completely.

This was certainly the most unusual hanger bay she had ever been in, not that she had been in

many. The floor and walls were utterly spotless and the floor was highly, though selectively,

reflective. Approach lights lined the walls the length of the runway, leaving no corner

unilluminated.

It was the floor that truly intrigued her. Apart from the landing pads and approach lights it was

featureless and completely black. Not just a regular black but a complete black, eerily like the

black that had enveloped her in the cave on Alchera.

Liara gazed at the floor around her. It flawlessly reflected the walls and ceiling in perfect detail

without a hint of distortion. The high vault of the bay ceiling soared over Liara's head and plunged

deep beneath her boots. She ran a gloved hand over the surface, marvelling at the lack of friction.

She could not even begin to guess what material the floor was made of.

Standing, her boots thumping lightly against the floor as the soles somehow negated the lack of

friction, she stretched and sighed. The two Gek had left some time ago, with apparent regret if

Liara had interpreted their vocalisations, hand gestures and scents correctly. Though she knew

some Gek words her vocabulary was nowhere near advanced enough for an in-depth conversation.

Even her knowledge of Korvax wasn't that advanced.

Leonist, the Gek who had the drawing of an asari head on his tablet, and his friend Thee had

helped as much as they were able. Most of their discourse had involved gestures and sketches on

Leonist's tablet, with the occasional pantomime. To ensure it wasn't just some wild coincidence,

Liara had drawn a bust of Del on the tablet, taking care to emphasise her synthetic eyes.

Upon seeing the image, Thee had first cringed in exaggerated terror then postured himself

aggressively and started making demanding sounding squawks. Liara stared at him a moment,

snorted and finally broke in to laughter, her attempt at stifling the outburst a miserable failure.

"That confirms it, you definitely met Del."

Leonist tapped the drawing and nodded. "Ushisti Del." He swiped the drawing away and tapped

the screen a few times. Another picture appeared and faded out to be replaced with a different

drawing before that faded back to the first picture. Leonist turned the tablet towards Liara and

allowed her to watch the sequence a few times.

Atlas. Liara's drawing of Del, what appeared to be Earth and the Milky Way galaxy. Atlas. Del, the

Earth and the Milky Way. Leonist and Thee stared at Liara expectantly, Thee inching away

slightly as realisation dawned on Liara's face.

"To find Del, I have to find Atlas."

Liara tapped her chest then pointed to Atlas. Leonist nodded and the room suddenly smelled of

ocean again. He chittered happily, pointed to Liara and the image of Atlas then swiped the image

to the second picture and pointed again.

"Where is Atlas?" Liara changed the image on the tablet, pointed and looked around the room.

"Where?"

Both Leonist and Thee made an odd gesture almost simultaneously, accompanied by some

apologetic chittering and a vaguely unpleasant odour.

"Of course, it could not be that easy."

Their exchange had ended shortly after, Liara doing her best to convey her thanks for their

assistance and the Gek seemingly trying to wish her well. Leonist and Thee had disappeared

further in to the space station and Liara had briefly remained in the lounge area, completing the

trading she had intended to do.

"Any suggestions?"

 _{{ Explore }}_

Liara suddenly had a very Del-like urge to punch the VI, something she knew was neither possible

or helpful. The VI, perhaps sensing her displeasure, piped up again.

 _{{ Guidance will be provided as required }}_

"Explore it is. VI, there is still one planet in this system I have yet to visit, correct?"

 _{{ Affirmative. Kaga'thon Helo, moon to Helfer-6 }}_

Minutes later the space station was indistinguishable from the stars behind her as Liara's transport

sped towards the small moon. From this far away it appeared to be a featureless hunk of rock,

largely uniform in colour. Liara's initial assessment changed little as she approached, her decent

through the thin atmosphere proving more colourful than the moon itself.

She settled her ship on one of the few flat surfaces she could see, a cliff top adjacent to a narrow

and deep canyon. A fine puff of dust enveloped her boots as she stepped out on to the rocky

surface.

"There are no other waypoints within scanning range?"

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

Liara conducted a quick local scan. There was nothing on the surface within the range of the scan.

Some small deposits of various common elements were scattered along the floor of the canyon and

a cluster of rare elements at one end of the canyon indicated a possible cave. The ship scan had

showed a communications mast was nestled in the canyon also.

Her initial flyover had revealed the canyon to be too narrow and crooked to allow for a landing so

Liara's only option was to descend on foot. She quickly checked her shields and multi-tool were

charged and transferred some spare materials from her suit to the ships hold. This was not going to

be an easy walk and the asari had no intention of doing it more than once.

Close to the ship a jagged section of the canyon wall had crumbled away, providing a natural ramp

for Liara to begin her journey down. The walls, while steep, had been eroded in to a natural series

of ramps and steps, aiding Liara greatly.

About halfway down she paused to catch her breath and take a moment to examine the rocks more

closely. The surface of the canyon wall was rough and pitted, and given that the entire moon

appeared arid it was unlikely that water was responsible for the canyon. Most likely geological

activity in conjunction with wi...

 _{{ Incoming storm }}_

She heard it first. A low growl at the far end of the canyon, followed by an angry rasping sound as

the loose dirt around her started to shift and stream away. The growling rapidly became a howl,

punctuated by persistent plinking as debris started to ricochet off her faceplate. Her current

location was completely exposed so her only options were up or down. Darkness fell as the storm

enveloped her.

A sudden violent up-draft swept Liara off her feet, carrying her towards the edge of the narrow

ramp she was on. Her desperate grabs for a handhold left her only with fists full of dirt. The

abrasiveness of the debris had already scoured her faceplate to the point it was becoming difficult

to see.

She felt her legs hang over nothingness for a brief moment before a powerful gust spun her around

and slammed her in to the canyon wall. Liara gasped, desperately trying to orient herself. Pain

blossomed over her right side. The lip of the canyon appeared above her then vanished then

appeared again, as a dancing wall of dust wavered back and forth. The wind seemed to abate for a

moment and Liara took her chance.

Struggling to her knees she activated her jet pack, using her hands to both keep herself from

dragging on the coarse rock and to guide herself upwards. The jet pack power indicator in the

corner of her HUD slowly depleted as the canyon lip inched closer.

The wind renewed and reached out almost spitefully to pluck Liara from the wall, tossing her

carelessly in to a rocky outcropping that protruded stubbornly from the step below her. She stuck it

hard, folding upon herself before the momentum spun her in to empty space.

She dropped. Fast.

Given that most of her weight was on her back, Liara was falling face up. The sky and the top of

the canyon flicked in and out of view as the dust above her surged almost tidally. Her jet pack

would be of no use unless she could get her feet down and she wasn't even sure she could feel

anything below her waist.

The dust tinged blue as Liara desperately gathered every last bit of energy she possessed to

generate a field around herself. Her biotics had proven largely useless on the few occasions she

had tried to use them offensively, pushing threatening creatures away so gently that most even

failed to notice the inconvenience.

Attempting to lower her mass and thus the force of her impact with the canyon floor was the only

option and chance she had. The sky appeared again above the plummeting asari only to be lost

almost immediately as an gout of dust erupted from the canyon floor.

{{ Storm clearing }}

Just as quickly as it had arisen, the storm disappeared. The canyon fell abruptly still, the tonnes of

dust and sand that only minutes ago were scouring the rocks pattering down like rain to rest until

the next storm. In the middle of the canyon the shower of debris quickly covered a crumpled form

that lay unmoving until it was entirely buried.

Liara's HUD flickered in the darkness.

 _{{ Shields depleted_

 _Life support systems – offline }}_

The HUD flickered once more, and failed.


	10. Chapter 10

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

Even after all the weeks she'd been in this weird galaxy, Del was not sure what it was exactly that powered the ships and shield systems. Element zero and dark energy seemed all but nonexistent here.

What she did know was that the shields, even around big ships like these cruisers, were kinetic in nature. Come at them fast and they greeting you with force equal to your kinetic energy. Trying to slam through them with a fighter ship going at combat speed would end up with a nicely crushed fighter ship. Ordinance was greeted with the same repelling force, which made them effective for their designed purposes in that regard.

However, go slow enough and something could pass right through the barrier with little to no resistance.

With the AI's guidance, Del was able to find a likely point of entry to the cruiser itself. By the time she maneuvered her ship into a shadowed area away from the cruiser's weapon capability and brought it to a 'halt' relevant to the cruiser's speed, Tokkan and two other Vy'keen were moving in to do the same.

After that, it was only a matter of popping her canopy and using her jetpack to 'gently' ease her toward the hatchway, keeping her speed such that she was moving at no faster than the most casual stroll.

As she did so, however, she had a sudden cold feeling of familiarity. It was not quite déjà vu- not quite even that level of vague coherence- but it was there.

Passing through the barrier felt like sinking through an especially viscous fluid- her momentum was just enough to generate _some_ resistance after all. Then it released and she was inside their shields. Moments later, she was against the hatch door and working her way inside as Tokkan and the other two left their ships and sailed through the barrier as well.

The hatch was a bit trickier. The Korvax, as expected, were technological geniuses. She was still working at it when Tokkan slammed into the hull beside her. Being a bit more familiar with the design, his help was invaluable and together they finally got the hatchway open.

As soon as gravity took over Del drew her multi-tool, and they began to work their way into the ship. Given their hostility and knowing opening the hatch had to have set off some kind of security alarm, Del was expecting a hell of a lot more resistance. Instead of waves of troops, however, they instead came across only clusters of two or three Korvax at a time- all of which immediately surrendered upon seeing them.

It seemed they weren't so tough faced one on one as they were when they were sealed up behind their guns and tech.

Del took a moment to evaluate one as Tokkan disappointedly kicked its weapon away and glared at it, growing that it had affronted his ancestors by surrendering. Despite being somewhat similar to the geth in concept and function, the Korvax did not much look like that species. They looked, to be honest, like humans in skin suits and helmets, although the helmets were opaque and bore various colored lights instead of a face. The colors of these lights seemed to indicate or add nuance to their language- none of which Del understood.

It wasn't until they met their third group (that immediately surrendered, of course) that two niggling sensations began to creep over her.

The first was to wonder if it was coincidence that the Korvax looked so human. It wasn't just in the humanoid body shape- the way they moved, their heights and builds, everything about them except those blank, colored-lighted helmets just seemed so organically human. If they were synthetics, who had built them? Why model them so closely off a species that probably certainly wasn't native to this galaxy, and probably not even to this entire universe?

Was this proof that she was in fact in some kind of a delusional state or virtual reality? Or was she reading too much into it?

The second sensation was that this was all too easy. She knew that the Vy'keen were honor bound not to kill anything that had actively surrendered- which is what Tokkan and the other two were finding monumentally frustrating. They wanted to slaughter these Korvax but in order to do that, the Korvax had to fight, or at least make an attempt to fight. Anything else would be, to the Vy'keen, like killing babies, and their honor would never recover from it.

It seemed the Korvax knew that too, which was the reason they were immediately surrendering. Or, was it?

That was the part that kept niggling her. Were they surrendering so quickly merely to save their own skins, knowing the Vy'keen wouldn't dare hurt them so long as they had done so? Or were they somehow walking into a trap?

"Come on," Tokkan growled petulantly after the group had surrendered, fury mingled with actual heartbreak on his face. "The command center is this way."

He strode impatiently past Del and up a ramp toward a catwalk. As Del started after him, the other two at her heels, that sensation from the spacewalk suddenly seized her again. She was overcome with a feeling that was only slightly more amorphous than déjà vu but far stronger this time, and accompanied with a roar from her gut that all but moved her muscles for her.

"No, Tokkan! Wait!"

She reached out and grabbed his arm and in that moment the door above, the ramp, and the entire catwalk exploded into white light as the entire Korvax ship and everyone aboard her was vaporized in an instant.

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-Λ]_

A fine puff of dust enveloped Liara's boots as she stepped out on to the rocky surface. An inexplicable shiver ran down her spine, causing her to pause a moment as she surveyed the plateau. Her HUD had acknowledged her discovery of the planet only a moment before, so why did she feel as though she had been here before?

Her gaze swept over a jagged section of canyon wall close to the ship and she froze as the blood in her veins turned to ice.

"VI, what happened here?"

 _{{ Query not understood }}_

"Something happened here. I cannot explain it but I believe you can."

The VI was silent. Liara broke her gaze from the crumbled section of canyon wall, half turned and sat down. Her usual grace of movement was absent and she thumped down on to the rocky surface harder than she intended. A cloud of dust briefly enveloped her and Liara had to clench her teeth against her rising gorge. Vomiting in her exo-suit would not be a pleasant experience.

"What. Happened?"

Silence.

Liara decided the time for games was over. Despite what cold logic was screaming at her – that she had only arrived on this planet minutes ago so how could anything have happened? – she knew something had occurred. Del's "gut feeling" was blithely ignoring her logic and likely even plotting its untimely demise.

So she sat and waited. The VI had fallen silent many times in the past but never for extended periods. There was always some cause for it to pipe up again – offering guidance, providing warnings when Liara's suit charge was getting low. Liara wasn't sure she could out-stubborn a VI, but she was going to give it her best try.

Unfortunately there was little to look at in her immediate surrounds, particularly as she kept her gaze firmly averted from the canyon. The planet appeared ravaged, nothing more than rock and dust. No animals, no plants, not even any clouds. The atmosphere was thin and contained barely any traces of the gases generally associated with life.

The archaeologist in her desperately wanted to explore. Had there been life on this planet once? What had it been like? And why was there no life now?

 _{{ Warning: Incoming storm }}_

Small eddies of dust sprung up on the plateau, skittering and dancing about to a beat they alone could hear. Liara's gut roiled and she hugged her knees tightly to her chest.

 _{{ Storm imminent, suggest taking shelter }}_

Liara heard a guttural growl behind her and a fierce wind suddenly buffeted her hard, forcing her to plant her hands against the rocks either side of herself, lest she be pushed over. Her blood ran as ice again as she felt the dust beneath her palms stream away in the powerful air flow.

 _{{ Suggest taking immediate shelter in your ship }}_

Liara grit her teeth and hunkered down.

 _{{ Liara, please! }}_

The asari narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath and stood up to a low stoop, quickly ducking under the nose of her ship to the lee side. Here the wind still shoved and grabbed at her but with less ferocity. She quickly scrambled in to the cockpit, snapping the canopy closed above her. A fine layer of dust powered the interior.

"So we are on a first name basis now?"

 _{{ I am sorry }}_

All pretence had fallen away and the voice managed to sound both sullen and apologetic.

"You are clearly far more than a simple VI. Do you have a name?"

 _{{ It was not deemed necessary to designate one }}_

"Given that calling you 'VI' will no longer suffice, I shall call you Nara. Any objections?"

 _{{ Nara is acceptable }}_

"What happened? And do not try any of that 'query not understood' VI speak. You know exactly what I mean."

The VI – AI, Liara corrected herself, if not something else entirely – fell silent a moment. The storm outside raged, dust and sand whipping across the plateau. The steady plinking of debris against her ship was almost hypnotic.

 _{{ You experienced a critical mission failure }}_

Liara let that sink in a moment. She could recall no specifics; remember nothing save landing on this planet and stepping out on to the surface. Her gut feeling had clearly been right.

"And?"

 _{{ The fail-safe procedure was initiated }}_

"Explain it to me as though I am only 100 years old Nara."

 _{{ Your mission cannot fail. You cannot fail. Should a critical event occur you will be reinstated at your most recent waypoint }}_

Liara closed her eyes and listened to the wind. Wherever she and Del were, it was nowhere near home. While no technology expert, what Nara was explaining was centuries ahead of the current capabilities of their home universe.

"I cannot die."

 _{{ Affirmative }}_

A part of Liara, a much larger part than she was willing to admit, felt immense relief at this statement. Not so much for herself, but for Del. As experienced and talented a soldier as the human was, sometimes her impulsiveness and recklessness got the better of her. Plus Liara had already lost or almost lost her more than once – she couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.

Outside the storm began to abate, the howl of the wind lessening. Larger particles of dust and sand began to drift downwards as the wind lost its hold on them.

 _{{ Storm clearing }}_

"I need a few moments Nara. Please let me know when it is safe to take off. I no longer feel the need to explore this planet, wonderfully hospitable as it is."

Liara leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. The soft hiss of dust and sand falling over the canopy lulled her in to a light doze. Just before she dropped off Nara replied, the faint hint of a smile in its voice.

 _{{ Of course Liara }}_


	11. Chapter 11

_[From observational recording of subject –Shepard Delilah Spruce /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Δ_ _]_

Even after all the weeks she'd been in this weird galaxy, Del was not sure what it was exactly that powered the ships and shield systems. Element zero and dark energy seemed all but nonexistent here.

What she did know was that the shields, even around big ships like these cruisers, were kinetic in nature. Come at them fast and they greet you with force equal to your kinetic energy. Trying to slam through them with a fighter ship going at combat speed would end up with a nicely crushed fighter ship. Ordinance was greeted with the same repelling force, which made them effective for their designed purposes in that regard.

However, go slow enough and something could pass right through the barrier with little to no resistance.

With the AI's guidance, Del was able to find a likely point of entry to the cruiser itself. By the time she maneuvered her ship into a shadowed area away from the cruiser's weapon capability and brought it to a 'halt' relevant to the cruiser's speed, Tokkan and two other Vy'keen were moving in to do the same.

After that, it was only a matter of popping her canopy and using her jetpack to 'gently' ease her toward the hatchway, keeping her speed such that she was moving at no faster than the most casual stroll.

As she did so, however, she had a sudden cold feeling of familiarity. It was not quite déjà vu-….

She suddenly clenched her eyes shut, the very breath seizing in her throat. Shutting her eyes was a signal to the jetpack to stop and so it did, momentarily making adjustments so that she ceased moving forward and instead hovered- just outside the Korvax barrier- matching the ship's momentum so that she remained stationary in relation to it.

 _Panic attack,_ she thought. _Jesus fucking Christ am I having a panic attack? Fucking flashes_ , now?

Images and sensations passed through her mind. Lost in space over Alchera, the _Normandy_ dying around her, not able to breathe as the air escaped through her severed lines. Reaching out for Tokkan's back as he started up a set of stairs _-_ _"No, Tokkan! Wait!"_

"Come on, Baby Ape!" The very Vy'keen in question said as his own jets started to push him into the barrier past her. He and two others had left their ships and were now doing as she had intended, using their jet packs to ease through the defenses so they could board and take the Korvax ship from the inside. "Did you lose your balls-"

Eyes snapping open, she reached out and grabbed Tokkan's arm hard enough that the motion sent them both into a drunken spin. Surprised, he started to swing a fist at her and she whipped a hand up to stop it instinctively.

The hot burn of pain as the collision of her arm with his made her grit her teeth. For a second she thought she'd broken it.

"Stop, Tokkan!" she snarled at him. He glared through his helmet back at her. The other two, surprised and distracted by the pair's sudden attack on each other, were drifting to a halt to watch.

"Stop?" he asked furiously. "Why?"

 _Because I'm either losing my mind or just losing my mind,_ she thought, but didn't dare say out loud.

"The Korvax are sure to have an alarm on the door-"

"So what?" He asked. "Let them hear us! Let them come! We'll rip them apart!"

She didn't know how to do it. She didn't know how to explain it to him or even herself. What was she to say? Don't follow through on my idea because I'm pretty sure something horrible is going to happen if you do, but I have no idea how I know it and no proof that it will?

"No!" she said instead, her fury almost matching his. "No, something…something isn't right."

He sniffed and she knew from the look on his face she'd lost him- if she'd ever really had a chance to begin with. "I thought humans were brave and honorable," he said in a low, snarling tone. "You are the only one I have met, but you- I could have considered you Vy'keen. But I see now- you are only a dirty whining coward. Only the Vy'keen have honor-"

"There is honor and then there is stupidity, Tokkan!" she growled right back. "Something isn't right, and getting yourself killed-"

" _I_ don't fear death! If you do, go back to your ship, puling coward, and leave! Go on! We do not need a coward with us."

The blow to her shoulder was like getting hit with a bowling ball fired out of a cannon. Del was no lightweight but Vy'keen- like the krogan- didn't fuck around. Tokkan was genuinely hurt and pissed and that translated into every pound of force he slammed her with.

The hit tore her grip free of him and sent her tumbling back. Before she could right herself Tokkan was through the barrier, barking orders at the other two, and closing in on the door of the ship.

"Tokkan, _goddamnit!"_

She set her jetpack and booked it toward him- a bit too fast. The bounce off the barrier only frustrated her more. As she started to set the pack to ease her gently through it, Tokkan and the other two got the door open and vanished into the ship.

 _{{ I would advise against this }}_

"Fuck you," she said to the AI. "Something is going to happen to him. I don't know how I know it, but every fucking cell in my brain is setting off alarms. Something is going to happen-"

 _{{ You cannot help him. I would advise getting back into your ship and putting distance- }}_

Del paused, her artificial eyes narrowing furiously after a moment.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?

 _{{ I do not know what you- }}_

"Stop fucking around you fucking big brother toaster shithead!" Del's fury was at a boiling point and she was full up of the masquerading little AI. "Fucking _talk to me_! What do you know?"

A pause, and then _{{ That ship has detonated sixteen times }}._

It sounded so ridiculous that for a second she could only stare and blink. "What the fuck are you on about?"

 _{{ That ship has detonated sixteen times }}_ it said. _{{ This is the seventeenth attempt }}_

"You're saying that we've gone on that ship sixteen times before now and it's _fucking blown up_ each goddamn time? How is that possible?"

 _{{ That is not what I am saying }}_

"You had better fucking _say what you're saying then_ and right goddamn quick you _chun!_ Spell it out!"

{{ You _have only gone on that ship twice, }}_ it told her. _{{ When Korvax are killed their consciousness downloads into a shared matrix. They can then be uploaded into a new body as one comes available. As such, Korvax individuals cannot traditionally die. When boarded under certain situations the Korvax units will not bother to fight, but will simply self-destruct their ship. The crew goes to the matrix to be uploaded into new bodies later, and the enemy forces aboard die }}_

"And this has happened over and over again?" Del asked. "How is that possible? What the fuck is happening?"

 _{{ You are a Traveler. Your mission cannot fail. When you encounter a critical mission failure you are returned to a point previous to that failure }}_

Del couldn't believe it. If it wasn't for the horrendous ringing in her gut verifying its every word she would have scoffed. "You're saying I can't fucking die?"

 _{{ Yes…and no. You_ can _'fucking die', however when you do you are temporally returned to a point previous to your doing so. }}_

"Temporally. You're saying I travel through time."

 _{{ Time is resorted around you to return you to a set temporal location of where you were last safe, prior to the decision or circumstance in which your demise was caused. Your mission cannot fail. In this situation, you have been temporally reset sixteen times- you are very stubborn }}_

She still couldn't quite get her head around it. "We've gone on that ship sixteen-"

 _{{ No,}}_ it interrupted. It was likely she only imagined the faint note of parental frustration in its tone. _{{ You have only gone onto that ship twice. At the second reset enough residual unconscious memory was retained for you to know that something was going to happen. You have spent the last fourteen resets attempting to convince or prevent the Vy'keen from going aboard, trying long enough that you were unable to escape the inevitable detonation of the ship. You now have five minutes left to reach a safe distance or you will not escape the detonation of the ship for the seventeenth time }}_

The sense of déjà vu was still with her, lending solidity to its words, and making her wonder- "How many times have you explained this to me?"

 _{{ This is the second time explaining this far. You are finally lingering long enough to listen }}_

Her mind was working furiously. If everything the AI was saying was true, then Tokkan and the other two Vy'keen were going to die-again. And if she stayed here this close to the Korvax ship, she would to. If what it was saying were true, she wasn't concerned about herself. She'd be fine, apparently; reset back yet again to before it happened. But the Vy'keen-

"Then we've got to save the-"

 _{{ You cannot }}_

"Fuck that! What if we-"

 _{{ You have tried that four times }}_

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

 _{{ You have said it fourteen times, and have tried it four times. You have said 'you don't even know what I was going to say!' eleven times- }}_

Del let out a stream of curses. "Fine! What if we-"

 _{{ You have tried that twice }}_

"There has to be a goddamn way! I'm not going to just leave Tokkan and the others to die on that ship!"

 _{{ There is no way. There is no way to prevent them from boarding or to prevent that ship from being destroyed. You have tried, and you are welcome to continue to try- however nothing will be accomplished by it save to trap you in this endless loop. That is why I am explaining this much to you- you will be stuck in this loop forever if I do not, your memory of each event becoming clearer until you either realize the futility of it or you trap yourself in your own repeating hell until your mind breaks. You cannot save your friend. You must get to a safe distance or you will only continue to die and repeat the loop }}_

"Bullshit!" Del was not going to accept that. She was _not._ Tokkan and the other two were following her plan- it was _her_ fault they even thought to board the ship in the first place, and she was not going to let them die because she made a dumb call. "If you can temporally reset me, you can temporally reset _them_ too!"

 _{{ I cannot. It is not possible. Only Travelers can be temporally reset, because Travelers are non-native to this universe and such do not follow the same physical rules or vibrational frequencies- }}_

"Fine! Fine, then reset _me_ again, only reset me back further. Reset me before I even made the stupid call to try and board that ship to begin with. We'll just continue the fight, and I'll never even bring up boarding-"

 _{{ It is not possible }}_

"Why the fuck not? If you can put me back in time you can put me back in time even further-"

{{ I _cannot put you back in time at all, }}_ it said patiently. _{{ It is not by my energy or direction that you are reset. I am merely an observer }}_

"Then who or what resets me?"

 _{{ That which brought you here }}_ It said, and it sounded almost sad. _{{ You no longer have time to reach safe distance for this detonation. The Korvax ship will self-destruct in thirty three point four seconds }}_

Del grit her teeth. "There has to be _some_ way, _something_ I can do to save Tokkan and the others!"

 _{{ It is not possible. I am sorry }}_

"There _has_ to be some way goddamn it!"

 _{{ There is not. You have tried all feasible ways…and many unfeasible ways. I am sorry }}_

"I'm going to try. Fuck you and fuck whatever goddamn thing brought me here, _I'm going to try until I save them!_ "

 _{{ Then we shall have this conversation again. Detonation in five seconds. Four. Three- }}_

Del's dark, damp eyes fixed on the gleaming hull of the Korvax vessel. "Tokkan, I promise you I'm going to _try_."

 _{{ Detonation }}_

Del closed her eyes as white light filled up the universe and tore her soul apart.

* * *

 _[From observational recording of subject -T'Soni Liara /Origin Point 8329ABG2100 /Ex. 397480100-_ _Λ_ _]_

The quality of the light was beyond anything Liara had ever seen before. She floated silently, her limbs rising and dipping gently. The light on the surface shimmered and refracted, casting down rainbows that danced across the asari's faceplate.

Lazily she rolled over, changing her view from the storm-chopped surface to the still and silent lake floor. Rocks bedecked in algae of impossible colours were scattered around as though cast there by a giant hand. Vegetation wavered ever so slightly in unseen currents.

A notification on her HUD suddenly flashed up, rudely interrupting her reverie. Sighing, she activated the UI and recharged her air scrubbing suit mods. Try as she might to forget her predicament even for a short time, reality had once again forced its way in.

"Nara, when will the storm be abating?"

 _{{ Atmospheric conditions are stabilising. You should be safe to surface and return to your ship in five minutes }}_

"Thank you."

A local scan revealed her quarry and a few minutes later Liara was surfacing and striking out for the shore, her exo-suit inventory all but bulging with aquaspheres. Found exclusively in water and used in high end technology blueprints they were always in demand on the galactic market and thus consistently fetched a high price.

This planet was large, rocky and almost entirely covered in lakes and oceans. The land surface was largely devoid of life, with most species either opting to stay in the water or returning to it after finding the frequent ice storms a bit much to bear. The few species that occupied the land were bad tempered and territorial.

Thankfully the planet was deemed important enough to warrant several trading posts and Liara had visited them all several times to empty her cargo hold and suit of the aquaspheres she had gathered. The spheres were not always easy to find and while the monetary compensation was certainly nice and would definitely come in handy, Liara was mostly enjoying the swimming.

Many of the lakes were interconnected with tunnels and Liara was truly revelling in the exploration, never knowing where she would pop up again. The rocks and vegetation were plentiful and both could be harvested and used to keep her exo-suit charged. Were it possible, she would have landed her ship under water and ignored the surface as much as possible.

Some of the larger lakes and the oceans also held deeper secrets – abandoned outposts and waypoints left over from a time when the planet had been far more arid. Liara had also come across entirely submerged ruins and monoliths, their mysterious technology seemingly unaffected by their immersion in water.

Banking in to the trading post again – Liara had visited this one three times already – the asari could see several other ships on the landing pads. She enjoyed interacting with the traders who frequented these outposts, sometimes meeting the same trader several times at different locations. Occasionally the traders would even be offering better prices than the galactic trade network and she could leverage more profit from her endeavours.

As her ship made its final decent one ship in particular caught her eye, its lines aching similar to the Normandy in overall design, granted on a much smaller scale. As soon as her ship had settled and the landing pad had finished orienting itself, she all but bounded out of the cockpit and hurried to speak with the pilot of the almost-Normandy.

The pilot was a Gek and, judging by the scents he released, was utterly delighted by her collection of aquaspheres, greedily offering to buy them all at well above market value. Ever the economic opportunists, he also didn't miss her appraising eye admiring his ship and indicated he would be open to negotiations on it.

Far more sleek than her current ship and also far more deadly, it boasted more cargo space and an upgraded hyperdrive. It would also cost her just about every unit she had.

"Nara, what do you think?"

 _{{ She is a beautiful ship }}_

The AI had dispensed with all pretence of being a simple VI and Liara suspected there was still much it was hiding. They had shared many discussions over the aesthetics of planets, animals and plants. These discussions usually started as a simple subjective statement on Liara's behalf, though sometimes Nara would comment on a rock formation or geological feature that was of particular interest. The scientist in Liara and the mere fact that Nara was a very advanced AI at the least meant these conversations quickly evolved in to spirited discourses on evolution, chemical compositions and planetary physics.

Liara could almost hear Del rolling her eyes and trying to stifle laughter behind her every time. In a way she found it comforting. Shepard was out there somewhere, facing many of the same trials as Liara was, though likely with more swearing and less scientific nomenclature.

"Objectively?"

 _{{ This ship had advanced shielding and weaponry, fifteen percent more cargo space and a hyperdrive capable of making multi-system jumps. Considering that you still have fifty nine percent of this planet to explore, the abundance of both trading posts and aquaspheres, the market value of aquaspheres and the time saved in making trading runs afforded by having more cargo space, I would recommend purchasing this ship }}_

Nara paused a moment.

 _{{ And it truly is a beautiful ship }}_

Liara laughed, startling the Gek slightly and causing him to release a sour odour. He was quickly placated by Liara's offer to buy his ship, the air surrounding them immediately flooding with the scent of rain and forest. Liara watched as the unit indicator on her HUD wound backwards, her trading partner nodding happily as he confirmed the transfer on his data pad.

The small amount of cargo remaining in Liara's now former ship was moved to her new ship and she settled in to the cockpit. The sleek nose of the ship fell away smoothly from the cockpit, giving Liara a less impeded view than she had anticipated. Initiating the take off sequence, her ship all but leapt in to the sky, seemingly eager to explore.

The sun began to set behind them as Liara piloted towards an as-yet unexplored sector of the planet, prompting a conversation over the gaseous composition of the upper atmosphere. Liara knew that Nara could scan the planet and know in a moment the precise reason why the sky was now that exact shade of red, thus ending the conversation.

But she didn't. And Liara appreciated that more than she could say.


End file.
